Vacation Or War
by LoorTheDarkElf
Summary: How does it feel when the whole world... depends on you keeping your big mouth shut? Book One of the VoW Trilogy
1. Our Lives

**LEGAL INFO:** I, Lauren Chalupnik, also known as **LoorTheDarkElf**, do** not** own Jak and Daxter, Jak II, or any other trademarks.

I, Lauren Chalupnik, **DO** own the characters Loor/Lauren Randolph, Lyra, Ryan, Mikey, Morgan, Artimus, and Teek.** Do not use without permission**.

Fury/Chelsea Paulson, Alex Argot, and Damian Matthews all belong to their respective creators and were used with permission.

The story **'Vacation or War'** is my intellectual property. Please ask before using specific concepts such as the** IV branch of the Dark Warrior Program** unless you are NDI. I am not gaining any sort of monetary profit, though if the sale of this work became legal I would make an attempt. At date of publication, however, everything is for **entertainment** purposes only. As such I obviously cannot pursue any monetary losses in the case that I am stolen from; I request these things **of your own integrity and honesty. If you want to use my ideas, please ask me. **

**Vacation Or War**  
**Chapter One- Our Lives**

"_Um... Lauren, you there?" _

Lauren Randolph suddenly snapped out of her own head, having been typing away at her computer and forgetting the fact that she'd been on the phone. "Oh, hello! Sorry, getting lost in my brain." She snickered, smirking and pushing her keyboard off of her lap and back onto the desk, stretching and falling back on her bed. Her computer desk and bed were at the same height, pushed together so if she dozed off at the computer she didn't have to crawl far in order to get to her pillows.

"_That's okay, it's a big place to get lost in. You working on that thingy?"_

"It's not a 'thingy,' it's an energy conversion device." She sighed, shaking her head at the friend she had on the phone; Chelsea. The two had only been friends for a couple years, but they were as close as could be, to the point of calling each other sisters. Both were reclusive, labeled as nerds. The two belonged to a trio that Lauren unofficially led; which meant she made plans and everyone else generally agreed with them.

"_You gonna bring it over tomorrow?" _Chelsea asked, clearly sounding excited. _"You've been talking about it for so long, I can't wait to see it in action!" _

"It all depends if everything checks out..." Lauren put one arm under her head as her stretch went from arching her back to fanning her toes while staring at the ceiling. "I was just setting up my computer to monitor a test... though I'm yet to have a successful one..."

"_Could you... explain it to me again? I know you have before, but..." _

"But what?"

"_Loor, you're a human dictionary. Sorry to tell you, but I lose you when we're talking about regular stuff. You start talking science, and I'm stuck at the gate." _

Lauren felt the urge to roll her eyes. Yes, she and Chelsea were both hopeless shut-ins, but it would seem Lauren could not escape her own vocabulary. The only person who could keep up with her when she got technical was Damian. Still, she took a deep breath and tried to think of a simpler way to explain what she'd been doing. "The concept is simple. You know about the three different forms matter comes in, right?"

"_Oh, yeah, solid, liquid, and gas. It's all gotta do with how fast they're moving on the inside."_

"Yes, on a molecular level. Solids are mostly fixed, liquids bounce a little, and gas bounces a _lot._ Now, what state of matter is electricity?"

"_It... isn't. It's energy."_

"Everything that can be measured is matter. Electrons have weight, and thus follow the same rules. I'll give you an easier example. Think of neon; those signs they make with it? Neon glows when allowed to become hot, but it's not 'burning' so to speak. While it is in a gaseous form when left alone, it becomes a different matter type with different properties when you run power through it; plasma. Plasma is also defined by ionization-"

"_What?" _Chelsea hopped in, looking for clarification as Lauren forgot herself in her explanation.

"Sorry, sorry..." She paused before going on. This was actually the most important part; what set plasmas apart from other matter types. "When something is ionized it has gained or lost electrons, giving it a positive or negative charge. It's what lets lighting happen; the air in a storm ionizes with one type of charge, the ground with another, and then the lighting strike happens along the connection. Plasmas are all ionized, and respond to magnetic fields-"

"_Okay, okay, I think I got the basics!" _Chelsea sounded as if she were pleading with Lauren before she got completely lost in her own ranting. _"They never talked about that stuff in science class, though." _

"Of course they don't." Lauren grunted as she rolled off of her bed, smirking to herself while pacing her clothes-strewn floor. "Most plasmas aren't found on Earth without someone making an effort to create them. They don't teach kids our age stuff like that, even when it's one of the primary matter types." There was a slight dryness in her voice, as if she felt this was a mistake of the education system.

"_Wow... so what does this have to do with electricity?"_

"Electrical power is the flow of electrons, a current, that is constantly seeking the fastest path to the ground. That current has a _lot_ in common with plasma; electrons are the very building blocks of ionization, they respond to magnetic fields as well as produce their own, arcs of electrical energy glow... why, think about a flash of lighting; a single flash is a release of over a billion volts of power, hotter than the sun and containing enough electrical current to light a one-hundred watt bulb for three months. All that power... _pissed away_ in less than a second. The sky is the biggest damn power-plant there ever was, but we can't gather any of it because we can't _store _it. Electrical current always has to be on the move, even the best batteries bleed out in a disgustingly short amount of time and cost too much for anyone to care about it."

"_...store? I thought you said your thingy was about efficiency..." _

"The storage problem is the same as the efficiency problem! Do you know how much of the power made by electrical plants _actually _makes it to your house? Like half. The rest gets wasted, keeping the grid hot."

"_I'm lost."_

Lauren fought her frustration, pulling the phone away from her mouth as she pulled in a terse breath and let it out as a sharp sigh, coming back and trying to keep her mind on a single track. "Alright; the device is for _conversion. _The idea is that if electrical power is indeed matter, which scientific law tells us it is, then it is matter of the plasma type. If it has a plasma form, it follows that the correct process of slowing down the electrons will yield another matter type that contains the same energy but has different properties and is easier to control, contain, and store. The goal of my device is to convert electrical current into a liquid state."

There was dumbfounded silence over the phone for a few moments. Either Chelsea was still lost, or she was impressed. Either way, Lauren was preening. _"That sounds pretty crazy. And kinda awesome. But you haven't gotten it to work, yet?" _

"No." Lauren's voice was irritated. "As far as the math goes the theory is sound, but the experiment has failed more times than I want to talk about. I've re-worked the device through multiple versions, with Damien getting me parts, but I keep melting cores. Something is going wrong inside the conversion mechanism... something is _missing... _I was just setting up another test, actually. First of the M generation, I have high hopes for this configuration-"

"_But you were supposed to bring the latest model to my house and show me!" _Chelsea yelped, sounding surprised and upset. _"You can't melt it at your house, you're supposed to do it with me!" _

"Chelsea, I can't bring my control box to your house without someone noticing; it's too big. Without a controlled environment, I can't certify the results of any test. Basic scientific method; only change one variable at a time."

"_You promised!" _

"That was before I made this model! When we talked about it I was on the L3, now it's the M1, and with the addition of a second magnet to narrow the field I _need_ the first test to be a-"

"_If all the other tests in your control box failed, do you think that **it** might be the problem?" _

"What...?" Lauren briefly considered, stopping in her pacing to eye the black box on her desk. It sat next to her computer, looking like an unassuming shoe-box. The truth? It was a sealed space with an air filter attached to the back, as well as humidity and temperature control to ensure all atmospheric conditions within were as close to clean-room specs as could be. Good thing too; this August in Minnesota had been like many others; hot and muggy. "I seriously doubt it." She responded, but finally started to yield. "... but if it means that much to you... fine, I'll come test it at your house. It'll give me something to do while you play the next Jak game."

"_Ooh, that's right! I finally get to play it. You've already beaten it, right? So you can help if I get stuck?"_

Lauren snickered at her friend, wearing a less than happy expression on her face as she thought about what she'd just given in to. Still, she _had_ promised. Better to move on to different subjects than to rake this one over the coals. "Several times, love. I don't play new games when I'm this bent on a project, and that's been... pretty much all of this year. I stick with old favorites so I can go on auto-pilot. Great game, though. Really need to borrow the third one from Alex..."

"_Soon as you're finished changing the world, right Loor?"_

Her nick-name brought a small smile back to her face. "With any luck, Fury." She said, responding in kind. "With any luck."

* * *

Lauren was outside. Her conversation with Chelsea had been hours ago, and the digital clock in her room had read 12:04 when she'd cranked open her bedroom window to let herself outside. On the lower level of a split-level home, her window was even with the ground, and her escape to the great outdoors was related to the fact that her elder sister, Ann, also lived on the lower floor.

Lauren may have been a hopeless shut in, a gamer, a book-worm, and an all out nerd, but such an active mind demanded an active body to relax. Sleep was impossible, otherwise. Things that involved her brain just wound her up more, and her smarts were far from the full extent of her talents.

Standing up from her open window she drew in a deep and relaxing breath, bending down again to reach back into her room to grab something inside. The simplest assessment of the object was a stick, just as long as she was tall, stripped of all its bark and sanded smooth. To her it was a treasure that she'd made with her own hands, a practice weapon for a style of fighting that had no previous training to foster it. Moving through the humid air, feeling as if she could swim through it for how thick it was, Lauren closed her eyes and took refuge in that nick-name.

_Loor. _The name came from a series of books she liked to read; Pendragon. Loor, in the book, was a violent and impulsive warrior girl who solved all of her problems with violence. While Lauren maintained herself as a logical creature when she was alone, conflict with others led her to lashing out a lot faster than it lead to her trying to hash things out with words. Given by Damien, the nick-name had stuck, the truth of it reminding Lauren of how bad she was at dealing with other people, as well as the stark contrast in her various interests. She was smart, but she loved feeling physically strong. Getting in so many fights at school, as well as growing up with regular yard-work that required heavy lifting, she was actually stronger than one might expect for her age and gender. The harder she worked her mind, the more joy she took in working her body to release all the tension.

She was yet to meet anyone her age, male or female, that could keep up with her... physically or mentally.

Granted, she could count on one hand the people who actually cared for her presence at any given time. The amount of time she spent, working and working out, left her short on socialization.

Which brought her to her midnight outings; every night she let herself outside to twist the long practice weapon in her hands, holding it in the middle and swapping it between hands as bare feet walked a memorized path into the long grass behind her house. Dressed in a sports bra and night pants, the more complicated parts of her mind lost momentum as she bathed in the sensation of the night... and her imagination.

She liked to pretend she was a warrior. Just like she liked to pretend she was going to change the world. She'd strike out at things that didn't exist, duck away, roll, pop back up on her feet, and twist back around as if she were countering a blow from a beastly foe. All that brain power, all that energy she spent puzzling out math and logic puzzles, putting together devices in her head and memorizing factoids of all types, was re-routed to believing she was actually fighting something. To believing, like a fool, that she was the best. A leader. Someone that everyone looked up to, instead of down upon.

Her only proof to sanity is that she _knew_ she was a fool.

* * *

"_For every age, there is a time of trial."_

Lauren sat on the floor with her legs crossed, digging her device out of her green backpack as Chelsea sat in front of the small TV in her bedroom to start a new game on Jak II. It was odd for Chelsea to take the controller for a platforming game where she usually rocked the J-RPGs and shooters, but with Loor occupied with setting up her test and Chelsea too impatient to hold still, it made a handy distraction.

The two of them honestly made an odd couple, despite the fact that they both had the reclusive nature going for them. Lauren could be described as nothing short of brash in both appearance and conduct. Two weeks form her thirteenth birthday and carrying an early-bloom b-cup, she wore a sports bra to crush it down and a loose tank top. Dishwater blond, short-backed, and blue eyes dulled by sleep deprivation, no one really expected a mind like hers between those ears. Between her strong jaw and defined shoulders, she could actually pass off as a boy if the mood so took her. Chelsea, in contrast, was a list of fragile oddities. She was small, underweight, and white as a ghost. Born two months premature, she'd been turned reclusive by her doting and worry-wart mother, which was made all the more depressing by how interesting her natural hair color was. Chelsea had dark brown hair, but the front section had turned silver due to physical and mental stress when she'd been small. With a center part, she often styled it to keep the brown back and let the silver frame her somewhat mousy face. Wide jade eyes expressed wonder, and just as often shyness; she was often bullied for her hair.

Lauren was one of the few who knew Chelsea carried a not-to-be-fucked-with rage under that shy shell. One day, that girl was gonna snap. Sometimes she hoped she would be there to see the poor sod who set her off. Other times, she half-expected _she'd_ be the one to set Chelsea off. The idea was actually scary.

That was where the nick-name 'Fury' had come from. Lauren _knew _Chelsea had it in her. Some day, that ugly rage was going to come out.

"How long is it gonna take for you to set up?" Chelsea asked, glancing away from the opening for a half-second.

"Not long." Loor answered with a shrug and a smile, pulling out a small black box that looked just large enough to hold an apple within and setting it aside. Then came some tubing, some modified wires, a modified breaker switch to cut the current in the likely event that something went wrong, and finally a cord that would plug into a wall socket. She quickly started putting things together, opening the black box and drawing out a silver-colored metal ball. There was a clear division where the two hemispheres had been fused together, two holes in it like the two poles on a globe. The wires with their specifically shaped end plugged into the jack at the top of the device, the tube connecting to the bottom with a gasket sealing it.

She had to stare at it for a second. This was her baby. A year of work; obsession, really. An idea put together from a theory of liquid energy, and a awareness that the world she lived in had a growing power crisis that had tensions as well as prices rising all over the world.

All she had to do was make it work. Then she wouldn't have to pretend anymore. She wouldn't have to imagine changing the world. She'd really do it.

"Is that it?" Chelsea asked, leaving the game paused where it automatically did so to explain the auto-save function. Jak stood in the fortress, Daxter on his shoulder, just waiting for a player to guide him through his prison-break. "Looks pretty simple..."

"The inside is where all the complicated stuff is." Lauren answered, connecting the wires and power cord to their respective ends of the breaker-switch. Finally, she pulled out a glass mason jar from her pack and set the device on top of it, the tube hanging down inside. If this worked, the liquid would need somewhere to go. "It uses layers of conductors and insulators, as well as electromagnets, to manipulate the electrons and trap-"

"Loor." Chelsea gave her a pointed look, reminding her that a full explanation would be useless and a waste of time. "So, what now? We just plug it in?"

"You wanna do the honors?" Loor asked, holding the plug up for her to take.

"You sure?" She seemed surprised that Lauren was offering. The girl was very jealous of her creations and who got the credit for any thought that came out of her mind. The idea of letting someone else plug in her creation seemed... odd.

"Sisters keep promises." She answered with a shrug. "I tried to back out... call it my apology and get it over with." Her tone grew uncomfortable, looking away with a slight pout on her face as she cited the relationship they had. The two girls had only been friends for a few years, but they called each other sisters. Siblings by way of friendship, as bad as they both were at it.

"Thanks, _Onee-san." _Fury giggled, using a Japanese term for 'big sister' as she took the cord to the nearest wall plug and served a short backwards glance before plugging it in.

Lauren scooted back a little, one hand on the breaker-switch and looking for signs of the conversion going wrong. The mechanism had almost no moving parts, but a faint 'tick' came from it several times a second. That ticking was the sound of the current swapping between the two electromagnets to trap and draw electrons along conductive material and eventually through a gelatinous medium held in a tiny ribbon of super-conductive gold, an even smaller ribbon of the valuable metal extruding out from the center; the point at which slowed electrons would experience no resistance and be forced to gather until super-saturation of the gold and the medium around it would force condensation.

At least, that was the theory.

"Is it supposed to sound like that?" Chelsea asked.

"_Shhhh..." _Loor was staring at the tube leading out of the ball, damning the feeling of hope that was rising up in her chest. It was a feeling she'd felt with every test, every model. A feeling that had been crushed just as many times.

Her eyes dashed to the TV screen in the background.

Funny to think it was the Jak franchise that inspired her theory in the first place.

"What is _that?" _

Lauren's eyes came back, the bubble in her chest expanding as a dark colored substance began to ooze out of the bottom of the device and through the connected tube. Slowly a near-black liquid made its way down the tube, a droplet suspending at the end and small arcs of energy reaching out to dance against the sides of the jar. Without thinking, Loor crawled forward, abandoning the kill-switch.

The droplet fell into the jar as she picked it up, staring at it. "Oh my _God." _She spoke in awe and shock, gobsmacked. "It _works. _Chelsea, it actually works..."

Chelsea's hand clapped on her shoulder as a second droplet fell into the jar, the two drops coming together like quicksilver. The substance flowed to the lowest corner of the jar, where Loor's hand cupped it in wonder while her other hand held her device to keep it in place. The two girls watched in wonder and, in Loor's case, growing pride.

She wasn't just a crazy kid. She was a true child-genius. Here was the proof. Finally, she had validated proof.

All of these happy feelings left her as the hand she was holding under the jar began to burn with an extremely rude sensation, not unlike an electrical shock. Her mouth came open to yelp, but the sound didn't manage to escape. She felt as if her body had been locked in place, her muscles going ridged and causing her to shake. She felt Chelsea's hand tighten on her shoulder, as if she was experiencing the same through a chain of conduction. She wasn't sure what was happening at first... until she looked closer at her jar.

The substance had eaten through the tubing as if it were acid, as well the bottom of the jar. This black substance, sparking purple wherever it made contact with something solid, was burning through things like water dissolving cotton candy. It dripped over her hand, making it burn, and the shocks making the sensation going through her ever-worse. Then, when she felt as if she'd be able to scream... the world left her. Sensation, sight, and thought; the world was going black and blank.

She had one thought, a fleeting whimper in her head, before she lost it.

_Eco. Electricity as a liquid is eco. _


	2. Museings Of Dark Eco

**Vacation Or War  
****Chapter Two-Musings of Dark Eco **

_Where...?_

Nothing met this thought, which was very strange when someone considered how Lauren's brain worked. When there was one thought, there were thousands to follow. A single question usually brought on a multitude of possible answers. She was an engine of theories and ideas, so silence in her mind was unprecedented. The fact that she couldn't answer herself made her quite uneasy, trying to remember what had happened and failing. She felt like she'd had a shot of morphine to the brain, the organ too lazy to piece together anything for her query.

For once, she forgot her brain and asked her body. What did her body know of her current location? At first, it was much like her brain; she was sure she had been completely numbed. Still, her question needed an answer, so she sought out her nerves. They had to be somewhere, out there, still remotely connected to her ability to sense them.

She felt a finger twitch in response to her demands, a wash of relief going over her. Still, that finger tugged the controlling tendons that fed back through her wrist, and though the awareness spread up half of her forearm, there was something at the wrist that disturbed her.

Something cold, thin, and long... it invaded, stuck in her skin and causing discomfort.

A similar spasm happened at her neck when she tried to turn her head, wanting to see. She wanted to open her eyes, but she just couldn't push hard enough to get them to do so. Her muscles responded in short jerks, and as she stretched her neck she felt another invasion on her shoulder. So cold, sticking straight down into her body...

Her face woke up as something brushed her forehead. It felt like... hair, but not like hair blown on a breeze. No, it reminded her of being underwater, how her hair would cover her face sometimes when she was swimming backwards.

_Water...?_

She had to see. She had to open her eyes and see.

Slowly, her lids complied with her orders, but the image she gained was blurry and distorted. She felt like she was looking through a red filter, everything various dull shades of pink. She could understand she was floating in... something. It was wet, but it was thicker than water. She felt sluggish, her eyes lazily traveling from corner to corner while trying to get her bearings.

That's when she noticed a tube leading away from her face. It was clear, and as she became more aware she knew she had a mask strapped over her nose and mouth. Eyes crossing and following the strange tube up, she began to understand the frightening answer to her question.

Above she could make out a dark circle that the tube attached into. She stared at it, since there were eight other tubes that led back down into her strange entrapment. Those where different though; the hose attached to her face was obviously allowing her to breathe while suspended in this liquid, clear and ribbed for structure. The other eight were slightly slimmer, and black, drawing her eyes back down.

The numbness was finally clearing, but that didn't help the situation at all. As the feeling of rubbery unawareness left her, a jolting ache replaced it. The sensation brought back a memory...

_Like when the eco touched my fingers..._

That was the kick in the ass that her brain needed. Everything suddenly cleared as she remembered what had happened at Chelsea's house with the VC-M1, and though what she was currently faced with didn't make much more sense she _did_ have full control of her body again. She was able to look down and begin actively puzzling things out, instead of dazedly wondering what the hell was going on.

She'd followed one of the black tubes down to her person, and remembered the cold intrusions she'd felt. Her eyes were focusing better now, and she was able to see that the tube connected into a metal ring that then connected to a thin metal barb that vanished under her skin. The shape bulged out of her skin and showed her that the tip was a good inch in, if not two.

Needles. The black tubes led to needles. She tried to bend her head to inspect further, but she could feel that the one she'd detected on her shoulder before was one of a pair, as was the one in her inner wrist.

She flexed muscles to search herself, assuming that since there were eight tubes there were eight needles. Wrists and shoulders made four, and she did find another two sets. One on the inside of her arm, where she knew IV needles to be traditionally placed, disturbing all of the muscles up to her shoulder. Next she searched downward, flexing her abdomen, bending her knees, fanning her toes-

That's where she found the last set. The backs of her ankles, ruining the function of her feet. She could hardly twitch her toes.

_But why? _She queried to herself. _What **is** all this...? Where am I? And how did I get here?_

She then shook her head as she realized there was a more important question at the moment.

_How do I get out of here?_

That was what she needed to know, and she looked straight forward to try and figure out her damp prison. The circle she'd seen above had to be the basis of some sort of life support system, but also made her think she might have been in some sort of tubular structure. The goo she was floating in meant she was in some kind of container; but was it a tube or a tank? Looking forward she saw the suggestion of a reflection, perhaps a foot away from her face. Glass, maybe? Either way, the way it distorted suggested a curved face; she could infer she was trapped inside a tube.

She'd guessed by now that the air she was breathing was laced with some sort of sedative. It smelt faintly sweet, and whenever she took a larger breath she began to feel numb once more. Her imprisonment was not meant to contain a conscious person, but a drugged one. The simple fact that she was awake gave her all the tools she needed to escape.

Of course, she'd also figured by now that she was dreaming. This was too fantastic to be real; a pity, she would have loved to go down in history as the kid who revolutionized energy, but the fact that it was a dream also meant she could calm the fuck down. By bending her knees she was able to get her ankles up to her hands, carefully closing her fingers over the metal fastenings that connected the needles to their tubes.

She couldn't grip very tightly, nor could she bend her elbows or shoulders to pull the needles out. Instead she arched her back to push her shoulders forward and her hips back, wincing as she felt the metal intrusions sliding free. Slowly, carefully, she straightened her legs while holding on to the tubes.

It stung, but the needles came loose of her ankles. She had her feet back! Not that they were much use to her in the effort of getting free, but it was nice to wiggle her toes again while pondering how to get the rest of her body loose.

None of them were securely anchored to her; she had been able to get her ankles free by simply slipping them out in the same direction they'd been put in. That fact gave her an idea, coupled up with her current suspension. She was bobbing as she was breathing, floating a bit when she inhaled and sinking while exhaling. It added an annoying irritation with the points on her shoulders, feeling them wiggle as she moved independently of the tubes they were leashed to.

She let all the air out of her lungs, curling her body down as she began to sink. The tubes at her shoulders must have been shorter than the rest, because as she sank they began to pull free. Muscles that had tensed against the protruding metal spike were liberated, and she was able to curl even tighter till she finally felt the tips float away.

And not a moment too soon; her lungs were screaming for her to breathe. A grateful gulp of air later, and several smaller ones as her world turned blurry and dark again for a scary moment, she set to the remaining four that were still stuck in her skin. With her shoulders loose she was able to reach across with one arm and release the other, looking out once more as she regained her mobility.

It looked like the glass that contained her wasn't very thick. Still confident that this strange experience was a dream, she actually smiled to herself while putting out her newly emancipated arms. She was able to press her hands against the sides of her prison, pushing herself lower while changing position. She curled on herself again, her back facing down and her shoulders getting braced on the glass behind her.

She looked forward, trying to see what was outside but failing. The substance she was floating in was too cloudy, and the glass reflected back at her like a two-way mirror, giving her twisted shadows instead of a view of the outside.

Extending her body, she kicked at the glass. Pain screamed up her legs, but she was rewarded with cracks. She was right, the glass was thin and not made to contain. She struck again, curious to what kind of nightmare she was having but also becoming rather frightened. She actually felt trapped...

And she didn't like it. It made her hit harder as the cracks expanded. She had to get out; escape into whatever world was waiting for her.

Her legs broke through on a final hit, and she yelped into the mask attached to her face when she felt hot pain rake up her left calf. She pulled her legs back in against the sudden suction that was produced by the goo leaking out, hissing as her skin was scraped by edges of broken glass.

The tube was draining, and she was soon able to stand up. She began to thrash around as her body was liberated from the liquid, throwing her shoulder against the glass to make a bigger hole. With the cage already weakened by the first hole, she broke through almost instantly, flying out and bound for the ground.

Her head was suddenly snapped back as she reached the end of the tube for the mask she was still breathing into, her whole body getting strung for a moment before it broke, letting her slam to the floor and hitting her head, knocking her senses loose once more.

"Fuck...!" She growled out of gritted teeth, her hands reaching for where she felt the thing was strapped on. There was a clip at the back of her head, under her hair, that she released, tossing the mask away and groaning. "...so not cool..." She began to look about as her bells stopped ringing, irritated by pain but still interested in finding out where she was.

She found herself in a barren room with dark gray metal floor, ceiling, and walls. It was lit by alternating blue and red running lights, making the place quite dim and foreboding. There was a hallway at the end of the room that took a sharp ninety degree turn to the left before vanishing, but there was also something else of note in the room.

It rose up out of the floor, looking to be some sort of display. She was only a foot or two short of it, and reached out to use it as a crutch while pulling herself out of the puddle of goo and glass she'd made. Once she was properly standing she began to note the damage she'd done to herself; she was bleeding at every point where she'd pulled needles out of herself, and her legs were scratched up from the glass. Not too bad for an escape from some sort of mad-science test tube if she did say so herself.

She looked down at the thing she was leaning on, and blinked. She was right; it was a display. Not only that; instead of roman characters she was faced with precursor symbols. Odd, since her dreams dealing with her obsession over Jak and Daxter were usually more humorous and zany. She knew her imagination could be quite unpredictable, but this was a bit much. Either way, she moved around to look at the display properly, setting herself to read the symbols she'd memorized only a week after playing Jak II for the first time.

Coming around, she was faced with the other half of the room. She'd only glanced up to analyze the jar she'd escaped from and found that hers had been one of three. Hers had been on the left, now smashed open and drained, the needles hanging limp in the air, dripping and looking quite creepy. The other two were still full of pink goo, but there was a difference between them. There was a shadow within the middle one, clearly identifying that there was a person inside. On the right there was no such shadow, showing the tube was empty.

The empty tube made the hair on the back of her neck stand up in paranoia. All the pink shit was still there, but there was no person... what had happened to them?

She decided it was time to read the thing she was leaning on. There were three columns, which she could only assume corresponded with the three glass prisons. The display glowed blue with its own light, reminding her of the power station as she read. She started on the left, matching up with the tube she'd just broken out of.

_**Control Information**_

_**SUBJECT ID: IV-DWP-13**_

_Gender: Female_

_Name: NA_

_Weight: 112 pounds; low body fat, healthy weight range._

_Height: 4 feet, 11 inches_

_Hair: Light_

_Eyes: Light_

_Skin: Light, no scars or major identifying features aside from small birthmarks on the left side of the neck (2, arranged along the collar bone) and under the left breast. (3, triangular arrangement)_

_Information of Note: Captured for unauthorized entry into the fortress; no city identification. Unconscious, taken for medical analysis. Blood tests revealed genetic anomaly, put into intravenous circulation immediately. _

_**Update: **Subject appears to resist sedatives; genetic anomaly may account for ineffectiveness of certain chemical compounds. Current dosage is triple recommended amount._

Lauren had to blink, her brow furrowing as she read. She knew it was talking about her, but the fortress? She glanced around once more before reading on.

_**Experiment Summary**_

_Overall: Subject entered extreme growth upon entering circulation, aging with continuous integration. Supplements added to life support to prevent malnutrition from hyper-metabolism; all indicators report nutritional requirements have been met thus far. _

_**Update: **Subject's physical characteristics have begun to change after forty percent integration. Hair turning darker than expected naturally._

_**Update: **Subject has crossed fifty percent integration; hemoglobin appears purple instead of red. Blood samples must be taken with specially eco resistant equipment. Eye color has changed._

_**Update: **Hair and nails also metabolized at an unprecedented rate. Subject removed from circulation for one hour for clean-up. _

_**Update: **Aside from extreme growth, subject's bio systems remain unchanged. Estimated growth; subject has matured three years in the span of 14 days._

_**Update: **Subject has failed to yield proper results, scheduled for termination._

_Current blood integration level: 68 percent_

_Run time of experiment: 14 days, 2 hours, 6 minutes_

"Scheduled for termination...?" Lauren's icy calm was starting to crack. What the _hell _was all this? Aging, physical characteristics, integration, eco?!

She glanced at the ID again. IV, DWP.

Intravenous, Dark Warrior Program. The fortress in the Jak II game, the Dark Warrior Program; they'd been pumping her full of eco! But she'd never seen anything like this on the game...

She looked herself over for the changes described before she could start panicking. She wouldn't be able to check her eye color, but she reached for her hair to find it black, feeling a tightening frown on her face as she looked down at herself and found her body several years more mature than when she last looked at it. Her hands shook, horrified that she hadn't noticed on her own. She was taller! How did she not notice that?

She tucked the damp strand of hair behind her ear, finding the next shock.

Her ear. She'd bumped it with her hand... and it felt a lot longer than it was supposed to. Both hands flew up to grab the offending body part, her jaw coming slightly open as she could actually _feel_ it. Like it was really hers.

Like it was really real.

"No!" She snapped at herself, shaking her head violently. "It's just a dream... just a nightmare... Keep your head on straight!" She scolded herself, looking down again. She wanted to read the rest. The center column was not unlike hers; apparently there was a girl in there with the same genetic anomaly as her, resistant to the sedative and reacting the same way with the eco by growing older. This other girl, conversely, had only been in circulation for a week instead of two.

Oddly enough, she wasn't scheduled for termination. Though there was no mention as to why, there was a note that the experiment was going well with her. Subject 16, as she was known on the display.

Loor looked to the last column, still curious on why the tube was empty.

_**SUBJECT TERMINATED. **Liquidation complete. _

"Just a dream." She muttered again. She couldn't let herself get frightened by her brain making up strange fantasies. She'd had loads of Jak II related dreams; it was only a matter of time before one of them ended up dealing with dark eco. Still, as she said it to herself, she felt horribly uneasy. Even though this was a dream, the girl in the middle tube was a prisoner. It wouldn't be right to just leave her, even in a fantasy.

She decided she had to release her, then escape. She was curious about what could be next in her strange flight of fancy. She was about to move beyond the display to try and figure out how to open the glass tube... when she got the feeling that she wasn't alone.

"I was alerted when your vitals picked up... but I never expected you to get out."

Lauren's heart leapt up into her throat, shoulders tightening as she stared forward. Something cold was at the back of her head, and with the voice that had spoken to her, she had a guess as to what that cold spot was.

"Just a dream... just a nightmare..." She muttered again. This wasn't possible. The VC-M1 could have plausibly made electricity into a liquid that resembled eco, but that was all it was meant to do. There was no extra bits, no extracurricular technology in it but the energy conversion. For her to be standing in a room, in the fortress, hearing _that _voice, was just straight impossible.

But still, no matter how she muttered, blood thumped through her temples at a frantic pace. The voice she heard, growling and cocky, was Errol's.

"Want to prove that little theory?" He asked from behind her, a grin evident in his tone. "We were going to kill you today anyway. This experiment has been quite interesting, but ultimately a failure."

Loor's brain had frozen for a horrifying moment when she'd heard Errol's voice over her shoulder. Then, the next, it exploded into activity. This nightmare of hers had cast her as a test subject in the fortress, and she'd now been intercepted. The options were escape or die. Or die trying to escape. Either way, Errol was her first obstacle.

"Not completely, it looks like." She spoke while slowly putting her hands up, not that she needed to show the fact that she was unarmed. What was she going to do? Pick up a shard a glass and try to stab him? Like _that_ would work. She knew better. Still, logic dictated the only reason a Dark Warrior subject would be kept alive would be because something happened. As she read, Subject 16 wasn't on the chopping block just yet. "... did sixteen change into the monster you wanted, Errol?"

Errol didn't react at first. She dared to think she surprised him.

She yelped as the cold spot on the back of head moved and then struck her with blinding force. The metal barrel of the gun felt as if it had left a print on the back of her skull, whipping her around and causing her to crash into the glowing informational display. Gasping and throwing a hand up to clutch the now throbbing pain, she stared up her oppressor.

His face was not what she expected. She expected the animated and cartoony proportions that Jak and Daxter characters were known for. Big eyes that were all the wrong shape, and hair that defied the laws of physics. Instead she saw a man of tan skin covered with gray tattoos, wearing a tight racing outfit overlaid with armor branded with the Baron's mark. A metal mask was on his head, slid up to push his flair of red hair back and out of his face. Long, pointed ears stuck out from his head. Brown eyes glared, but a cruel mouth smirked. He stood dangerously close, his gun jammed under her chin.

This _was_ Errol, but this was no cartoon. This was a person. Lauren forgot about her dream theory and whimpered.

"You know me." He noted with only mild surprise. Something in his voice offered her continued life as long as she kept his interest.

"In a sense." She evaded, trying to figure out how her words could save her. That magnificent brain of hers twisted itself to find the answers she needed. There _had _to be something. "... not as well as I thought." She admitted, fear starting to take a greater precedence than thinking.

His other hand seized her by the collar of the shirt she was wearing. She only briefly noted it wasn't the same as the one she'd been wearing back at Chelsea's house. Her back screamed as she was forced backwards on top of the podium. "Are you the scientist, then?" He spat out the question as she gritted her teeth against a reedy cry of pain. "Two girls appear in the middle of the night, one for me, one for the lab boys. She wakes up, she cries, she doesn't know anything... but maybe you're the one I should have interrogated that night?" He laughed, almost as if he expected her to laugh too, like it was a joke. "Was it a device? Maybe magic? Precursors only know, I'm sure. I'm also sure that if you don't know anything..." He trailed, the barrel of the gun pressing harder into her chin.

The message was clear; she was dead if she pleaded ignorance.

Mouth left open, undecided on whether she would break and speak or try and struggle, Loor felt something strange. All the hair on her body felt as if it was standing on end, like the air was statically charged. This feeling got her attention, and then suddenly changed. One moment she felt the static, the next she felt as if she'd been struck by lighting. Heat and sparks exploded across her senses and yanked her awareness in another direction; the tubes behind her. Her neck craned, forgetting Errol somehow to see something else that both shocked and terrified her.

The middle tube had suddenly shattered. Glass and goo flew everywhere, purple sparks dancing on the globes of liquid in the air and clawing across the walls. A shape stood in what was left of the middle tube, shaking and ridding itself of the various needles and face mask in several short movements. Loor could hardly see it from where she was pinned, but Errol clearly saw it and was in awe of it. Shocked, his hold on Loor loosened.

Pitching forward, Loor's body acted before she knew what it was doing. Her head collided with Errol's metal breastplate, causing her more pain to her head and only making him back off a few inches. Her hands both went for his greatest advantage; his pistol. At first his fingers tightened on it, twisting to get away from her clawing hands and shoot her, but both of them soon took a tumble that knocked his shot askew and left the bullet on the ceiling.

A weight hit them both, coupled with an incredible roar. In a heap they went over, and Loor managed to wrench the pistol from Errol's hand as her little body then twisted to get away from whatever hit them. Whatever it was, it hadn't been aiming for her; it had been aiming for Errol.

Rolling away frantically, a new feeling took in her person. As she looked up at the creature that bore both her and Errol to the floor a wave of terror washed through her, but there was more than that. This thing was human, at least somewhat, with white skin and a spray of silver hair that looked dirty while covered in the pink goo from the containment tube. The ears were worth a glance, but the black talons on it's fingers were a much bigger deal.

They were aimed right for Errol's throat.

Lauren's stomach tightened as the world seemed to slow down and hesitate. Something was _wrong_ about this picture; something was about to happen that simply could not be allowed to happen. Unaware of how she managed to move so suddenly, she launched herself at this creature that had just saved her life and was about to take Errol's instead.

Screaming, she tackled it, the two of them rolling into a ball of limbs. It snarled, but Loor kicked it away, realizing the human form it carried was both female and young; a small teenaged girl.

She didn't look for long, turning and finding Errol back on his feet. She found the gun in her hands, using the barrel to arrest him in his place. His face was stupefied, unsure of how to feel about all of this but still looking as if he planned to kill her, and possibly this new creature as well.

"Knock your friend away, and now you'll kill me yourself?" He asked, not seeming to have any doubt that she'd use the pistol now that she had it. He was only feet away, nearly point-blank.

"Friend?" She was tempted to look but knew better. She couldn't take her eyes off of him, or he'd liberate her of the weapon she managed to steal. The creature she'd tackled was over by the wall, and as long as it didn't jump her or Errol again she couldn't spare the second to glance.

"We found her with you." He was trying to rattle her with the smirk on his face. "I assume she's your friend."

_Chelsea!_

With a yell, Lauren fired three shots. Two missed, and one found home in his upper leg. Still bellowing she emptied the clip and threw the weapon across the room, not looking to see if Errol fell down after letting off a short grunt of pain.

Instead she looked behind herself to where the creature would have landed after their tussle.

Once a pale creature, now a still-pasty but more peach-skinned girl. Brown haired with two natural silver streaks in the front, framing her face as she laid like a ragdoll on the floor. The claws were gone, as was the feeling of electricity from the air. The same long and pointed ears adorned her head as they did everyone else's.

She looked just like Chelsea, plus maybe a year or two.

She _was_ Chelsea. Diving to grab her, picking her up without thinking, she gave a glance to find Errol had taken a knee on the floor and was now seething up at her, gritting his teeth while putting pressure on the wound she'd just caused him. "Leaving?" He spat. "I wonder how far you two will get. I wonder..."

The strangest smile took on Errol's face.

"A little game of cat and mouse in the streets... I think like it. Run, little mice. I'll come sniffing soon enough."


	3. Safe House

**Vacation Or War  
****Chapter Three-Safe House **

Lauren was losing her mind. She knew she'd been running frantically for at least ten minutes, all through parts of the fortress that she never even knew to exist. Still, she didn't log them away, afraid that if she lingered too long Errol was sure to call back-up on her ass. She just counted herself incredibly lucky that she didn't run into any guards, because she was sure she'd be dead if she did.

She already felt dead, carrying Chelsea around. Her muscles must have atrophied after floating in a tank for two weeks.

_Why are you rationalizing? It's a dream! Nightmares don't have to make sense!_

She frowned at her own thoughts, panting as she came up to a door at the end of yet another unknown hallway. The question on her brain was obvious.

_What if it's not a dream? _

"Don't bother with it..." She muttered to herself. "Don't think about that, just face forward. Treat it like it's real, and if you wake up... well, it was fun. Scary, but fun."

She then turned to the door that was ahead of her. Most of the doors she'd passed so far had been dead-ends, requiring key-codes or other authorization. This one, on the other hand, didn't have any place to input information. Just a button. She wondered if it were really that simple, or if pressing the button would trigger some kind of alarm. Both options seemed to be within her imagination's capacity and the KG's sense of humor.

Her hands occupied by holding Chelsea on her back, she pressed the button with her forehead. Thankfully, instead of sounding an alarm, the door ahead began to open.

Loor stuck her head out to check for guards, and though she saw none she yanked her head back, having seen something else.

There was a giant fucking tank in the next room! Just idling, but it was still there.

_The security tank?_ She mused for a moment. Assuming she had once again entered familiar territory, that tank meant she was just one room away from a door that would lead her to outside the fortress and successful escape. It also gave her a relative place on the time line; Jak had escaped recently if the tank was still here. That placed her, Chelsea, and this dream pretty close to the beginning of the game's story.

But why was there a door where she was? She was on the far side of the room; the wall that had always been blank and empty in the game.

_There's a door here because I needed a door. I need to escape, so here's my exit. Simple as that. _

She had to stop pondering. As she'd been thinking before, the fact that the tank was there meant she was mere yards from the door that led out to the street. Mustering what little she had left of her nerves, she turned to take a step out into the room. Her eyes locked on the security tank again; it was a massive machine clearly made for killing. The turret on top faced straight forward for now, but the cow-catcher on the front looked plenty dangerous with the giant spiked steam-roller wheel right behind it. Her natural reaction was to hide behind the corner again, to shy away, but she didn't have time for that.

She and Chelsea were still in the Baron's prison, wearing what were probably the regulation outfits for female prisoners. If sighted by a guard they'd either be shot or captured, and Loor honestly preferred neither of those options. She didn't know what she'd _do_ once they got to the streets, but it felt safer than being here.

She'd begun moving for the door, intent on getting outside, but the door began opening before she'd even moved a step.

At once she froze like a deer in the headlights, her brain screaming _What now?! _Did the KG use this entrance? Or was it someone else?

The door opened maddeningly slow, but someone slipped in as soon as it was wide enough for a body.

Those who came through it just about floored her.

Jak and Daxter. In the flesh. She had to blink several times to convince she herself she wasn't seeing things, feeling her clenched jaw loosening while staring at them both. First the fact that she was seeing them, and second just how real they looked. Skin, hair, eyes, clothes, fur, all fascinating and making her want to reach out and feel the textures.

Jak was looking away, to the other side of the room, where his entrance was. They were here to torch the ammo dump for Torn, and Jak was clearly focused on the mission. Of course he'd noticed the tank, but it wasn't shooting at him.

Daxter, on the other hand, stared at the tank quite a bit longer than his partner. "Jeez... you'd think after how lax the security was around you, these guys wouldn't know the meaning of the word 'overkill.'" Dax said, once again making Loor want to either bolt out to them and examine both in a fangirly squee-fest, or hide behind the far side of the tank till they were gone.

Instead, half-way out of the door she'd come through, she just stood and stared.

"The whole place has probably tightened down since yesterday." Jak replied, shaking his head. "Not that we've ever minded a challenge."

Daxter's eyes were still wandering about the room, and eventually he turned and saw Loor standing there like a statue.

Of course he blinked, and stared. A sense of surrealism hit as Loor found herself sharing a moment of stupefied shock with an animal.

"Uh... Jakkie-boy, dames in distress at three'o'clock."

"What?" Jak sounded irritated, since he clearly had his rage with the Baron on his brain. Still, his head turned.

Loor felt the need to run again. She wanted to bolt, but her body and mind had totally locked up. No matter how badly she wanted to scamper off and hide, all she could do was stand and stare. Moments later he was looking, and blinking at them the same way Daxter had. "Who...? Are you two prisoners?"

His voice addled her mind even more, but the fact that he asked a question let her get back in gear with the need to answer. Hesitation showed dishonesty, so she'd trained herself out of hesitating to answer anything. Now and again she blurted out something wrong, but for the most part the habit had done well for her. "Not for long. We're getting outta here."

"You won't get far in those duds." Dax had leaned forward from Jak's shoulder now, curious about them. "The streets are crawling with guards."

Loor glanced at herself again, already aware that she and Fury were dressed differently than how they'd been when they left home. Both had been dressed in a matching set of shirt and pants that were an ugly shade of yellow with a darker shade for stripes, red type on the sleeves and pant legs. Openings had been built into the clothes for the needles that had been stuck into them, and the pants were more like long shorts, ending just above the knee. Led to examine this in detail, Loor had mainly taken the time because Jak had focused in on her. Particularly, her legs. His aqua eyes had first narrowed in confusion then widened as he took a step forward. His mouth was open like he wanted to say something, so she had looked down to see what had him up in knots.

"You're bleeding..." He said, though he trailed off. Obviously something about the blood disturbed him.

Properly so; the blood that had since dried and caked onto her leg was dark purple.

Daxter noticed this too, but Jak spoke first. "You two need to get out of here. If the guards catch you, they'll kill you."

Dax then turned slightly to face Jak. "Think there might be a safe-house near here?"

"Torn'll know." Jak held up his hand, seeing as Loor had finally found her legs again and was tensing to bolt. "Just hold on a second, we might have someplace safe for you two to go."

She opened her mouth to insist no assistance was needed, as was yet another natural instinct of hers, but he'd already pulled some sort of communicator out of the holster on his back. She recognized it as the strange floating model of the comm. unit that appeared in the first Jak game as well as the second, but Jak apparently had to hold it when trying to get ahold of someone else.

"_What?" _Torn's rough voice came through the little box, it beginning to float as the connection was made. _"You idiots already done?" _

"We found a couple of escapees as we were comin' in the front door." Daxter said before Jak could explain. "The underground has safe-houses for people on the run from the Baron, right?"

"_Yeah, hang on... Actually, there's a place straight across the street. Send 'em that way, the lady of the house is used to dealing with jail-breakers." _

"Right across from the fortress?" Jak seemed skeptic. "Why haven't they noticed her?"

"_Hiding in plain sight. Get your asses back here when you're done."_

The comm. deactivated, and Dax caught it mid-air to put it away while Jak looked over at Loor. "Well, you heard the man."

She managed a tight nod. "We owe you one." She answered while moving for the door, stepping quickly. It was as close as she'd get to showing gratitude with all that was bouncing about her brain right now; perhaps at a later time she'd be able to sit down and un-pack it all, but for now she had to keep moving.

She didn't look back when she got to the door, quickly moving through the moment the opening was wide enough.

And, for the second time that day, she nearly fell on her ass with what she saw.

Haven City laid before her, in all it's squalor and glory. She stood on the ramp leading up to the fortress door, in the middle of a dingy street in the slums. Her eyes raced about cracked paving stones and houses in sore need of repair. Brief notes went to the people walking the street, all of them depressed and downcast, watching their feet and not even noticing the fact that there were a couple of girls in prison garb, standing at the entrance of the fortress.

That made her frown. These people... she could feel their negative energy, just how hopeless they felt everything was. She felt like she was drowning in emo, and began to probe the passers-by with her eyes, looking for someone who wasn't interested in their toes.

There were none among the walkers, but she caught someone with bright and aware eyes across the street.

A woman, old and dressed simply, with gray hair pulled back from her face. Not only was she not looking at her toes, she was looking directly at Loor and Fury.

The woman flashed a smile, though it was only a brief twitch of her face that showed acknowledgment before turning and opening a door to one of the dwellings on the block. As she passed into the portal, Loor could see the door had been left slightly open. The woman had to be the one managing the safe-house; Torn must have called her and let her know they were coming.

_You're rationalizing again. What good is a dream if you can't just let it be what it is?_

"I can rationalize all I damn want..." She growled to herself, stepping quickly across the street, dodging some people, and pushing the open door further ajar with her shoulder.

As she did so, she noticed a tiny symbol carved into the door frame. The symbol for the underground; the Baron's symbol getting smashed with a hammer. She gave pause to study it a moment, frowning.

Such things seemed a little _too_ detailed for a dream. Such fantasies had too many events to have intricate backgrounds. She wanted to touch the symbol, but her hands were occupied keeping Fury on her back.

"Quickly child, before someone notices you."

She looked up, into the dwelling, to see the old woman waiting for her and motioning her inside. She obeyed with a nod, moving past the door and letting the woman close it. After that she relieved Loor of her load, taking Fury without asking, with a surprising amount of ease; she may have been old, but she was still strong. The woman held Fury bridal style, walking into the dwelling without saying a word.

Loor was left to follow dazedly, looking about the old woman's home while resisting the urge to rub her eyes. The room, if it was all indeed a single room, was decorated and separated out by dozens of soft curtains, all shades of red. Loor was curious if this was decorative or functional; if this woman was a safe-house manager the curtains would give privacy to multiple visitors. Either way, the effect they had left the room feeling dreamy and without solid boundaries. The walls were covered in cloth too, giving the illusion of a giant tent.

"This way. I have a shower if you want to get cleaned up... you're quite lucky, the water recently came back on in the slums."

Loor shook her head while finding the old woman deeper in the room, having chosen one of the spaces between the curtains and placing Fury on what looked like a padded mat on the floor. "That would be great... but... who are you?"

The crone looked up, flashing a grandmother-like smile. "Teek. I was told you two are on the run from the Baron... did you escape the prison?"

"Something like that... they weren't expecting us to wake up... though I imagine there'll be a head-hunt for us soon. I kinda shot Errol..."

The smile dropped as the woman's eyes widened in shock. "Did you kill him?"

"No." Loor said it as if she were apologizing.

"Pity." Teek, as she was named, stood up while brushing off her simple skirt. "Would have made my job a lot easier."

"That being?" Loor questioned, quite curious. So far she'd run into Errol, Jak, and Daxter; all characters that she knew from the games. But this woman, Teek as it were, was a new person... and like all the others, looked real as could be. It fascinated her... and when she was fascinated she had to ask questions. She had to find out all there was to know.

"Not exactly something to be discussed with guests." Teek deflected. "How about that shower, dearie? From the looks of you, they weren't keeping you in a cell."

"Something a bit more like a test tube..." She answered with a sigh, slouching. The crap she'd been floating in had dried at the same rate the blood on her leg had, leaving her with a crusty feeling that was most unpleasant. She didn't fight as Teek pushed her towards what first looked like a barrier of curtains but turned out to be a wall; sweeping aside one of the decorative swaths to reveal a door. Said door led to a bathroom which was oddly clean, considering the city section, and most definitely with a woman's touch.

Teek took only a moment to show Loor how to operate the shower and get warm water before bustling out to keep an eye on Fury.

"Must be an underground agent..." Loor muttered to herself while turning the shower on, rubbing her face and leaning on the sink. It was a classic and basic bathroom; with a shower, toilet, and a sink set into a white topped counter with a mirror on the wall. The scene would have been familiar if she hadn't been horribly aware of the strangest feeling on her skin.

The static. The same static she'd felt shortly before Fury... changed. The burn had long left her, but her hair was still standing up on end from an electrical feeling that would not leave her be. She wanted to rub her hands over herself to worry the feeling like one would a toothache with their tongue. Why did she feel like this? So... altered... She looked down at her hands, frowning at the fact that they were bigger than when she'd last looked. Her whole body was; aged by three years.

She turned to the mirror behind her to do a more thorough examination, but the moment she faced her reflection she took a step back in shock.

Lauren had been a bit short for her age back home, with dishwater blond hair and electrical blue eyes. Now she had to be four to five inches taller, and her hair was raven black. Her skin tone hadn't changed at all; still unevenly tanned with a peppering of freckles over her high cheekbones and down her forearms. Still, anything else that might have changed had to take a back seat to her eyes.

Her irises had changed to a rich dark purple at the rims, fading into green around her pupil.

"Just a dream..." She muttered once more. She tried feebly to convince herself of it, touching her face while staring at the mirror. "Just a... just a crazy nightmare."

She watched the mirror a moment more before turning away to strip and get in the shower.


	4. Ammo Box

**Vacation or War  
****Chapter Four-Ammo Box **

The spray from the shower was warm and absolutely heavenly. It washed away the gross feeling all over Lauren's body, black hair soon hanging in wet strips about her face as she bent her head. She stood there, letting the water beat on her shoulders. Breathing in the steamy air, her mind finally settled.

She forgot about where she woke up, shooting Errol, and running away from the fortress. She forgot about her fear, excitement, and anxiety. Most of all she lost the denial of all these events; for the moment they were as real as could be, and she would treat them as such.

She had to.

"What to do... what to do...?" She questioned to herself.

_That's obvious. Get home. Technology got you here, so the right mechanism should take you back._

"That doesn't make any sense..." She stood up straight to drag her fingers through her hair, trying to rinse all the goop out of it. "The VC-M1 was not made to do something like this... there _has_ to be another factor. Something I'm not aware of... in that case, I need to talk to someone who knows more than I do about this stuff."

_Vin? He was quite knowledgeable. If you explained everything to him, he might know what to do. Maybe even have a way home._

"It's an idea... but how do I get to him? With the city check-points, just getting out of the slums will be a huge challenge..."

_Ask Teek. She might have a city pass... or, since she's an underground agent, you could get her to let you join._

"And what? Tag along with Jak? I think not... Haven is in the middle of a violent civil war, and Jak ended up with all the dangerous parts. Trying to follow him around, even for a little while, would likely end up with me an' Fury getting killed." She shook her head, scanning around and finding a few bottles in the shower that she confirmed to be shampoo and conditioner after reading. She stared soaping up, digging her nails into her scalp. "There has to be another way... maybe a way without a city pass..."

_There's a way to get from the pumping station to the dig site; though using the air train there to get back into the city also required a pass... and swimming was instant death in the game._

She frowned, still scrubbing vigorously. "That's the problem... all of the information is coming from what I used to think was fictional... what's real, and what isn't? What parts were simply mechanics...?"

_Ponder them later. Vin; he's our best ticket home. How do we get to him? _

Loor stopped in her pondering, standing ram-rod straight as she noted she'd been actively talking to herself again. These weren't thoughts; this was a conversation... and she didn't like it. "How do _I._" She corrected herself sternly, shaking her head with sudden violence. "_I. Me. My. _I am _not_ going insane..."

_I'm not._ She reassured herself mentally. _I remain sane because I **know** I'm talking to myself. I'm conscious of it, that it's just me, myself, and I._

She paused, as if something was going to argue with her. A moment of silence passed, and she dipped her soapy head under the water again to rinse.

"The only way out of the slums is to get a security pass." She concluded while reaching for the other bottle in the shower, smoothing the conditioner into her hair. "Asking Teek is all I can do right now... if she asks why I need to see Vin, I'll say I'm the daughter of an old friend. Until I know exactly what I'm doing, I can't trust anyone..."

_But telling Vin everything is necessary; isn't that trusting him?_

"No... I have to do it; plus I know he's too paranoid to betray me if I tell him not to oust me to anyone."

She rinsed again after that, shutting the water off and stepping out. The mirror was now foggy, and she realized she didn't have a towel or know where one was. She considered putting the prison outfit back on, but it was still caked and stiff with the goo she'd been floating in for the past two weeks. Instead she began to search around the bathroom, eventually finding several towels folded up and stacked under the counter.

She made quick work of drying herself, wrapping up and opening the door to come out.

Teek was right outside the door, apparently waiting for her. The old woman had a pile of garments in her arms, and a secret little smile on her face.

"I have a fresh change of clothes for you, though I guessed on size. Please, do tell me how things fit." She said while pressing the pile into Lauren's arms, very firm while leading the girl to a curtained off corner to change. "I had a few questions, if you'd be willing to talk." The lady went on. "Of course, I'd be willing to wait if you're not comfortable yet."

"Oh, no, it's fine." Lauren answered, though she wasn't able to get the words out till Teek had already pushed her behind the curtain. "I had a few questions of my own, actually. But... your house, I suppose you go first, eh?"

"We've got a bit of time. I've been listening to radio chatter; sounds like you and your friend have the place pretty scrambled with your escape... and Errol? You could say he's... less than happy." Teek giggled on the other side of the curtain. "Most entertaining to listen to, but I imagine the streets will be dangerous for a while longer at least. Either way, I'd like to start with your name."

Lauren had been digging through the clothes Teek had handed to her; it was a selection of several garments, including underwear. Loor started with black panties and a sports bra, going on to look for pants. "Lauren, though friends call me Loor. My friend out there is-"

"Chelsea, also known as Fury." Teek broke in. "She woke up while you were in the shower. Quite shell-shocked; I imagine she's found her way to a bath by now. I told her to go and get clean in the other bathroom when she was able."

"There's a second bathroom?"

"Men's and Women's when I have several guests. Keeps things orderly in the mornings." Teek paused for a beat, in case Loor wanted to say something, before going on. "So, Lauren, what did our Baron have you in for?"

"I..." She'd found a black set of pants and dark socks, pulling them on before continuing her skimming for a shirt. "I'm not exactly sure. I'm from outside of Haven, and let's say I was conducting some... experiments. Something went wrong, and I ended up... in there." She paused, not sure she wanted to mention the mad science shit she'd seen when she'd come around, but deciding to say so anyway. "Woke up in some kind of tank, or tube..."

"Ah... no identification then. That's a crime around here, you know. And... a tube, you say?"

"Your Baron decided I made a good guinea pig." Her voice was bitter as she lighted upon a shirt she liked; a midriff of heavy dark cloth with black leather straps crossing over each other on her chest and back, making an 'X' on either side. She spent most of her summer in just a sports bra anyway, and she liked the tight fit.

There was another pause from Teek, but it was more than a considerate beat. No, she was thinking.

"If you want to fight him, I could send you to someone who'd help you in that goal."

She'd just gotten the shirt over her head as she felt a short and hot flood of excitement and adrenaline. She also found a set of gloves that went with the shirt, yanking them on as well while thinking. This was exactly what she _didn't_ want to do. Throwing in with the rebels would be dangerous... but with any luck they wouldn't have to stay long. Speed was important; the sooner she found out what was going on and how to get home, the sooner everything could be fixed.

That was worth the risk.

"I'd be interested..." She said carefully. "...if you're talking about the underground."

"Oh-ho, so you know about our little movement. Quite knowledgeable for an outsider." Teek was smiling as Lauren emerged from behind the curtains, holding in arms the clothes she hadn't been interested in. "Word spread pretty quickly that Errol had been shot. You've done enough to interest us; if you've proven nothing but that you're able to think fast."

"I do what I can." She replied, though now she was bluffing. She was confident that she could throw a punch if need be, but full blown combat sounded a tad too dangerous for her.

But if she went with the underground, she'd probably be able to get into south town sooner and get to Vin.

Teek took the extra clothes in one arm, offering her hand once she'd taken on the load. "Allow me a bit more transparency. I stockpile and supply weapons as well as armor and clothes to the underground. Running a safe house is one thing, but if the guard ever found out there was an underground ammo box across the street from them... my place would get torched with me in it, to say the least."

"I can't believe you can keep the place so close to the fortress without getting noticed..."

"You'd be surprised on how blind the KG can be if you stand too close to them." Teek waved her along, walking past another long barrier of curtains to get to what looked to be the other side of the room. "So, your friend, does she have any combat skills?"

"She can hold her own." Loor lied. It would be the only way to keep Fury with her. "We work together."

"Always good to have a dependable battle buddy. Now, let's see..." Teek took hold of one of the drapes on the wall, giving it a pull to reveal an actual stone wall.

Said wall had a large rack of weapons hung on it. Loor had to blink at all the hardware, recognizing some of it. There was a morph gun, like the one Jak carried, along with several attachments for it, along with basic eco pistols and rounds of ammo stored next to them. There were larger class weapons, like Sig's set-form peacemaker, and other hefty looking items set on the end of staffs for shooting with one end and bludgeoning with the other.

Still, Loor ignored the guns. She was a terrible shot anyway. That hit on Errol had been dumb luck at point-blank range. Instead she saw a smaller item on the rack that perked her curiosity, reaching out and picking it up off the wall. It was a dark metal pipe, about two feet long, with a rubber grip in the middle. The pipe-like thing was about the width of a pop can, if not a tad thinner, and clearly had something else in it.

"What's this?"

Teek smirked at her. "Squeeze the middle firmly." She suggested.

Doing as she was told, Loor nearly jumped as the item in her hand suddenly expanded. One foot sections slid out from either end of the weapon, six inch long, thin, and sharp blades extending out the tips, giving the weapon a length of five feet total.

Loor grinned. "Beautiful."

"That is a verity of juice rod." Teek explained. "If you put heavy pressure on the middle grip you'll engage a blue eco crystal, which adds a 'shocking' quality to your attacks. Just a moment here... that shirt you're wearing is made to carry just about anything on the back, I just need to hook in the right attachment."

Loor watched as Teek got something that looked like a black plastic rectangle with two circular posts on one side that looked like her weapon would hook into, and four hooks, one on each corner, that bent underneath on the other side. Without asking, Teek took her shoulder and turned her around, yanking on one of the leather strips of her shirt.

Four snaps later, the thing was secure on her back, and Teek showed her that loosening her grip would cause the weapon to collapse back to its little form. Then the woman directed her to practice snapping the weapon in and out of it holster.

"Do you want a smaller side-arm?" Teek asked as Loor did this.

"No." Loor answered quickly, hesitating before going on. "I... what happened with Errol was really just lucky. I'm more proficient with melee weapons."

The elder nodded. "You looked like someone who likes to handle things up close and personal. Now... some boots..." She swept the curtain back over the weapons, moving on to another section of the wall and yanking another aside. This one was closer to the floor, and revealed several pairs of combat boots that were all of similar design; Nearly up to the knee, leather with straps and metal clips, and shiny metal caps over the toe.

After taking a look at Loor's feet, Teek picked out a set with a metal spike on the toe. "Try those."

"What's with all the curtains in here...? I mean, I know this is a safe house, so it divides the place up, but..." She trailed off while sitting on the floor to yank one of the boots on, tucking her pants into it before doing the straps. "It seems a bit flamboyant."

"The guard understands my home as a..." Teek paused for the proper word. "G_entleman's _club. If I catch on the radio chatter that there's a search coming, I'll have my guests dress to fit the parts, and the curtains do well to hide anything I don't want found. Errol himself has seen my home once or twice, and is none the wiser."

"Clever." She got up after strapping the boots up, smiling at the fit. "These are great."

Teek chuckled, nodding. "Puts a whole new danger on kicking where the shade is, hm?"

"...Loor?"

Both Lauren and Teek turned at a sheepish voice behind them. It would seem Fury had gotten out of her shower, clean but confused. The girl stared at her friend with wide and innocent eyes, wrapped up in two different towels; one around her body and the other over her shoulders, both clutched to her person as she looked at Loor, clearly terrified.

"Loor... what's happening?"

"Uh..." Lauren looked to Teek. "Could I have a moment, please?"

The old woman nodded, turning and walking to one of the few actual doors in the place. "Call for me when you're done."

Both girls watched the woman leave, then looked at each other again. Fury stared before running up and hugging Loor tightly, squeezing her friend with all she had and beginning to cry.

"Whoa, Fury!" Loor slowly returned the hug, clearly confused. "What's going on?"

"It's... what's going on...? We were in my room and then I was in a cell... so many tests... and you... I saw you... floating in that _tube..._ And everyone... everyone has these ears... even me...! And they... he... Me too... I was..."

"He?" Loor put her hands on Fury's shoulders, pushing the girl off to look at her directly. Fury's face was made red by tears, but was also distinctly younger. Where Loor looked to be sixteen, Fury was in the fourteen to fifteen range. She'd aged, but not as much. "Fury, what are you talking about?"

"I... you... you went straight in... They left me out for... six... seven days? Questions... and tests... And the commander, Errol... so scary..." She sniffed, hiccuping and shaking her head. "But... he..."

Her chin fell to her chest as she choked on a sob.

"Did Errol do something to you?" Lauren asked with sudden rage. Seeing Fury like this ignited what few emotions she had, making her feel like she could rip down a steel door if necessary.

"No... not him... someone else, the guy who took care of me... he... was so nice... protected me from Errol... tried to get me out... and I..."

Her breath shuddered as she buried her head against Loor's shoulder.

"I killed him!"


	5. Joining the Underground

**Vacation or War  
****Chapter Five-Joining The Underground **

"You... what?"

"I... I'm not sure..." Fury had calmed down some, though her face was still streaked with tears. "I... I don't know what's going on at all. I remember we were in my room, then I woke up... in this hallway. The fortress? That's what I was told, it was the fortress..."

"We just escaped from there." Loor confirmed. "The prison."

"They..." She shook her head as if to clear it, trying to breathe slowly. It was obvious her brain was still trying to panic. "Kept me in a cell... took samples, said my genetic structure was weird... and this guy, he took care of the prisoners in my area... took care of me. He was nice to me, talked to me..." She shook again, hugging herself. "Showed me... you... in that _tube..._ You were changing, getting older, like you'd started growing really fast. He told me they were using eco, Loor! Dark eco, but that doesn't make any sense..."

Loor took hold of her friend, hugging her to comfort her. She had no doubt that what Fury said was true; that the poor girl had spent a week in the fortress and been subjugated to all sorts of mental damage. Beyond the confusion was imprisonment, fear, and isolation. Making her explain those things, making her mentally experience them again, would be even more damaging at the moment; best to let her lock them away.

It was better to cover this ugly reality with a lie.

"It's all just a dream..." Loor soothed. "A horrible nightmare. Forget about it, and we'll be home soon. I promise."

"Errol... he was always around, trying to find out where we'd come from. He... the other guy protected me, kept Errol away from me..."

"Remind me to thank the guy..." Loor muttered rather dryly to herself.

"He... he's dead... I... he... after they put me in one of those tubes... he had a plan to escape, he came to try and get me out too. But I wanted to save you, and he wouldn't let me try! You were right there! I was so scared, so frantic, and then... it wasn't quite blacking out, I could still see shapes, but I didn't know what was happening. Everything was fuzzy, and then..."

"He was torn to pieces, wasn't he?" Loor asked quietly. "Like an animal had mauled him to death..."

"How did you...?" Fury pulled back with a shock, but then nodded while looking down. "Errol and another guard was there... the told me what happened. The said I... changed... into a monster... That I... _she_ ripped him apart. I-I don't know if it was true... but they put me back in... I don't remember anything else."

She paused, since she hadn't been conscious since then.

"Loor... what happened? How did we get here?"

"I woke up and broke us out."

"But... that Errol guy... he watches everything; he must have come to stop you."

Loor let out a short sigh, weighing how much she should tell her friend. It was clear that she'd been exposed, rather directly, to the Baron's right hand man and his psychotic way of handling things.

It was also clear that they had been made into successful subjects of the Dark Warrior Program; a mind-bending concept that Loor didn't even want to think about. She would have to, eventually, but right now she needed to take care of her friend.

"I must have just missed him." She lied, putting on an optimistic smile. "Listen, I think we might have a way to get the hell out of here... but it's not going to be easy. I need to you calm down, keep your head up, and follow my lead. We're at a safe house right now. We just escaped from the fortress, which is right across the street. There are Krimson Guards, just about everywhere, looking for us."

Fury nodded slowly. "But... Loor... the ears everyone has... they're just like that game we played. Why? Everything looks so real... but..."

"I'll explain everything when we get home." Lauren insisted. "Please, just trust me and listen."

Chelsea's jade eyes were still wide with questions, but she managed to nod.

"The woman who runs this place is getting us sent to the underground; its a group of people fighting the Baron of this city. Errol is his right hand man. We're only staying long enough to get in contact with one of their information guys; Vin. He should be able to help me get us home. Till then our story is we're from outside of Haven, you're my little sister and assistant, we were experimenting with teleporter technology and accidentally ended up in the fortress and were arrested for not having identification."

"Uh... Little sister, arrested for no ID. Kinda got it..."

"Good enough." Lauren ruffled Fury's hair, giving her one more hug. "The lady of the house is going to suit you up with some weapons. You're a pretty good shot, so go for the guns. Remember target practice at my house, off the back deck? You were great at that. If things get hairy, you're going to need something you can handle."

"...Hairy?"

"It's a war out there." Loor gave her sister a pat on the back. "Try not to worry about it. I'll take care of you."

She walked over to the door Teek had disappeared into, looking back at her friend out the corner of her eye.

_I promise, Fury. I made this mess... I'll fix everything, and it'll be like nothing but a bad dream. _

She then faced forward again, having been about to knock, when the door flew open.

"Um... just about to get you, there." Loor mumbled, shocked at the woman's sudden appearance. She had flung the door open and shut it behind herself just as quickly, bustling over to Fury and taking the girl by the shoulders.

"You two need to move quickly. They're searching all buildings in the immediate vicinity of the fortress. It will take them an hour or so to get to me, but they will come. I'd suggest you two separate, for the moment at least. Divide and conquer, as it were."

"What?" Fury asked with a measure of discomfort in her voice. "But we're sisters! We need to stay together!"

"Be that as it may, they're looking for a pair of girls. Just one girl will fall under less suspicion." Teek had pushed Fury behind a set of curtains, fetching clothes from another corner for her to try on while looking over to Loor. "You should get moving. I'll send her along when she's ready. There's a dead-end alley way near the north wall; the stone wall with the painted green and black symbol on it moves. Torn will bring you into the fight."

"Loor!" Fury protested from behind the curtain.

"Take it easy." Lauren finally answered, having been thinking. "We got to keep our heads on straight if we even have a chance at making it around here. I'll go now, and we'll meet up later. Just keep to yourself and don't step on anyone's toes."

"I..." Fury paused as Teek tossed in the pile of clothes. "Oh... alright... fine."

"Before you leave..." Teek turned and retrieved something else from yet another sectioned off area. When she returned she had a length of bright red cloth in her hand, giving it to Loor with reverence. "Everyone, be they on the Baron's side or ours, wears one of these somewhere on their body."

Lauren took the silky cloth carefully, staring a moment before nodding and using it to push her hair back, tying it off and letting the tail hang behind her back. "Thank you."

"Do us proud in the underground, and I will be thanking you." Teek gave her a push. "Go, quickly child."

She nodded, looking around and realizing she had no idea where the hell the door was. All the shades of red blended into each other, making the room seem endless. Teek seemed to sense her confusion, because she bustled forward to sweep a few curtains out of the way and reveal the front door.

"Don't worry about it..." Teek giggled to herself. "I too get lost in the colors, now and again."

Loor advanced to the door with yet another bob of her head, letting herself outside and stepping onto the street. She didn't hesitate for long, seeing the group of KG at the end of the lane. The group conducting the search, no doubt. Taking her own advice, she put her head down and started walking.

* * *

"The demolition duo has returned! One BBQ-ed ammo dump, served up hot!" Daxter crowed as he jumped onto the table in the underground. Jak smirked at this remark; it seemed Daxter never got the gravity of what they were doing till the monsters were breathing down their necks. Still, his constant jokes, wisecracks, and random behavior kept the both of them sane. If Dax hadn't been around, life would have been a lot less fun.

Regardless to that, Jak could tell that Torn was rolling his eyes, and decided to add his own two cents. "We saw something odd while torching that ammo." He said, frowning at the tattooed wonder. Would it kill the guy to laugh once in a while? "The Baron's guards were giving barrels of eco to a group of metal heads."

King Laryngitis turned his head at that comment, his eyes showing clear surprise. "Really?" He asked. "The Shadow will be very interested to hear that."

Jak opened his mouth, mention of the Shadow reminding him why they were playing errand boys for Torn. They weren't here to blow up ammo dumps or climb towers; they wanted to meet the Shadow and learn how to get a few direct hits on the Baron. The rest of what the underground did was their business, but he cared about his revenge.

Still, like Daxter never got the true weight of any situation, he often lost sight of the end objective. The fuzz-ball broke in to boast. "You know, so far _your _gigs have been easier than stealing grass from a sleeping yakkow."

Jak glared at his partner. Great, they'd just volunteered for some other side-tracking task. He crossed his arms over his chest as Torn gained an amused expression.

"So, you and the rat wanna start proving yourselves, huh?" He asked, about to go on...

When the door to the street opened. Everyone looked, listening to a solitary set of steps coming down the stairs.

A girl entered in; one that Jak recognized. It was one of the two he and Dax had seen at the fortress; the one who'd been up and walking. It made him briefly worry about the girl's friend, since the worst often happened to the Baron's 'science projects.'

And with the fact that this girl had been bleeding purple he could only assume they were experiments, like himself. She looked a lot better than when he'd seen her last; cleaned up and dressed properly, black hair pushed back by a red scarf tied around her head.

The girl was looking about herself like a kid in a candy shop, her eyes wide and curious, hands brushing along the walls as she came down from the stairs. She then looked up into the room, noting everyone's gaze. From there her eyes only grew more curious, a smile picking up at the corner of her mouth.

"Took your time getting over here." Torn growled. "Get your ass down here, newbie."

She didn't have to be told twice, practically trotting down to the table everyone was gathered around. "Any word on my sister?" She asked casually, looking like she was on top of things.

Jak had to blink at her. For someone coming out of the fortress, she was strangely bouncy. And calm. He'd been out of his mind with rage when he escaped; only enough sensible neurons left to remind him that taking on Praxis immediately would be a very bad and likely deadly idea.

"Teek sent her along. She should be here soon, and you both have some proving to do."

"Well, go on. I can explain shit when she gets here." The girl waved a hand, which made Torn glower at her. He apparently didn't like it when girls ordered him around.

Still, he didn't waste time arguing with her. "One of the underground's... 'suppliers' needs his payment delivered, a bag of eco ore. Take the zoomer parked out back and drive it down to the Hip Hog Saloon in south town. Jak, when you get there you can pump Krew for information. He's wired to the city and might know what the Baron is up to." He looked over at the girl, now smirking. "The KG is probably going to get suspicious. Make sure that shipment doesn't get hurt; it's worth more than you are."

The girl glared, looking like she was tempted to pout. "It's nice to be loved." She batted back sarcastically while turning to lead the way out. Jak glanced back, waiting for Dax to jump up again before taking his own leave.

Going up the stairs to the street, he saw the girl standing there. A change had occurred in her attitude. She seemed at a loss for what to do; one moment she'd been completely on top of things, and now she glanced about like she'd dropped something incredibly important.

Had she been _acting_ tough?

"Hey, sweet cheeks!" Dax called out. "You said you owed us one, I didn't figure you'd be back to return the favor so soon."

She turned to face them, bewilderment showing on her face after being pulled from her own thoughts. "Oh...? Oh, yeah, I didn't think so either. Just a means to an end for me, though..."

"Oh, us too." Dax turned to face the girl as Jak went over to the parked zoomer Torn had mentioned, checking the package that was strapped onto the tail end. "So, you got a name to go with that sweet face of yours?"

Jak rolled his eyes; did Dax have to put the moves on every living creature that happened to have breasts? What was worse is that those lines sometimes worked for him. He had to look, just to see if this girl was one of the stupid ones.

Oddly, she looked like she didn't know how to react. She wasn't flattered, but she wasn't irritated either. Lest, not to begin with. After a few moments of indecision she crossed her arms over her chest, looking uncomfortable. "Lauren... though only my family calls me that anymore. Most people call me Loor."

"What got you into the underground?" Jak asked before Daxter could overstep the line she'd drawn. Dax had never been any good at noting body language. "Torn had us do at least one useless task before letting us on board."

"I..." She paused, then shrugged. "I shot Errol on my way out of the fortress."

"Whoa!" Dax exclaimed. "Way t'go!"

"Really?" Jak asked, "Did you kill him?"

She gave him a near lethal look. "No, sadly. I was just trying to put him out for the count while my sister and I escaped."

"Jeez, sorry... just asking..."

"Loor hates it when people ask lots of questions."

Jak, Daxter, and Lauren all turned as another new girl walked up. She was younger than Loor, with mousy brown hair and silver bangs. She had a soft and innocent face with big jade eyes, dressed in a red tank with a black jacket over it and matching pants. She wore boots, and had twin pistols strapped onto her hips. She had a red scarf, just like everyone else involved in the war, looped about her neck with the tail left to hang behind.

"You must be her sister, right?" Dax quested, looking rather happy that he had all the eye-candy in the world for this mission.

"Chelsea." Loor introduced, welcoming her sister to her side. "Though I call her Fury. Now that we're all here, let's get going."

"Going?" Fury frowned up at her sister. "But I just got here!"

"We got a mission, _Imoto-chan." _Loor snickered. "Let's go find some zoomers to follow the boys with, and we'll get moving." She took her sister by the shoulders to steer her back out of the alley-way. "We'll be right back." She assured.

Dax watched the ladies leave the alley with a smile on his fuzzy face. "_Mmmm...!_ Ladies in the service are an acquired taste, if you can handle the rough edges."

"If you had kept talking one of them was going to handle _you." _Jak chuckled while saddling up. "How the hell did you manage not to get yourself skinned without me?"

"You underestimate my animal magnetism, obviously." Dax smoothed back his ears, grinning. "One look at this adorable mug, and the ladies can't help but fall at my feet."

"Right... and the fact that neither of the new girls asked for your name...?"

Daxter seemed to experience a short twitch as he realized that fact. "Well... they weren't asking for _yours_, either!"


	6. Independence Complex

**CLEANED UP**

**Clean up notes:** Two event changes, though minor, lot of dialog changes, general fun stuff. Remember people, I need you to be my grammar watch dogs during this re-write. Something looks wrong, or even just questionable, leave me a PM or review so I can go and look and fix!

Fury has been made into a much more active character in this version of VoW. I kinda like it; she's bloomed into something of her own instead of clinging to Loor the whole time. It's a wonderful thing.

Love the new bit of dialog at the beginning of this chapter... plus I can fix all the shitty chapter titles! So awesome!

**I own nothing! **

**Vacation or War  
****Chapter Six-Independence Complex**

"Was that-?"

"Yes."

"With-?"

"_Yes_."

"You gotta be shitt-"

"No, I'm not."

"But he was talking! He doesn't talk... at least he didn't..."

Lauren sighed, shaking her head. "Alright, brief explanation... You know at the end of the first game, they found something, right? You saw when we were back at your house, the rift rider. That brought Jak and co. a couple hundred years into the future. Jak was captured by Baron Praxis, who rules this city, Haven. The Baron has been experimenting on people using dark eco, hoping to mutate them into creatures he can use as weapons. Jak's been tortured like that for two years... They've been arcing it into his body... He and Dax escaped yesterday, which puts us near the beginning of the game's story..."

"But... wait, you know what's going to happen then?" Fury was out of her mind, both curious and frightened. The world might have made a little more sense if she'd been hanging upside down as far as she was concerned. "And what happened to me? To us?"

"I'm not quite sure what happened to us... it looks like the Baron had more than one branch of the Dark Warrior Program going... What they did to us was a lot faster than what they did to Jak, which doesn't make any sense at all... by all means, we should be dead. Or at least horribly mutated and wishing to be put out of our misery..."

"But Loor, I changed! I... it... she's-"

"Let's just forget about that right now." Loor dismissed, sighting a pair of one-person zoomers across the street they were currently walking. "All that matters is getting home... we can worry about the rest of it later. Trust me, I'll fix this."

"_Onee-san..." _Fury whined, using the Japanese term for 'big sister', something she'd picked up from her love of anime. Loor often reciprocated by calling Fury _imoto-chan, _meaning 'little sister.' "How?"

"I'll find a way." Loor led Fury over to the vehicles, saddling up. "We just gotta survive for now, alright?"

"Right..." Fury clambered up on the other zoomer, looking at the vehicle quizzically. Neither girl had ever driven before, and she didn't even know how to start the damn thing.

"Hey, what's taking you two?"

Loor and Fury both looked to see Jak and Daxter had gotten impatient and come looking for them, Dax calling them out.

"We're from out of town." Loor called back casually. "Neither of us has ever driven a zoomer before. How the hell do you start these things?"

"Out of town...?" Jak questioned, frowning at the concept.

"Oh, it's easy!" Daxter leapt from Jak's shoulder to Fury's zoomer as soon as they were close enough, crawling around the girl and pointing out a switch on the top of the handlebars. "Like so!" He advertised, flicking the switch and then hopping over to Loor's, doing the same for her with a dazzling smile. "Daxter saves the day!"

"Maybe you should save your breath, shorty." Lauren shook her head at the fuzzy, taking the handlebars and trying to look like she knew what she was doing.

Dax hopped off, back to Jak, as his partner pulled around. "I do driving lessons too, y'know."

"Yeah?" Lauren felt her temper warming up. She wasn't used to people joking with her. "Who the hell said I needed 'em?" With that she decided to wager her pride on a random guess; twisting the right handle bar and praying it was the gas.

The zoomer suddenly shot forward, nearly plowing through Jak. She let go immediately, yanking the handles and getting the vehicle to turn as it slowed to a stop, smirking back at the others in victory. "C'mon, let's get moving!"

Jak rolled his eyes at Loor's display of independence, looking back at Fury. "Right hand grip. And take it easy; that one looks like it's in good repair, so it'll have a lot of zip. The left hand grip switches you between hover zones."

The meeker of the two girls nodded in gratitude at the instruction, slowly managing her zoomer to catch up with her sister. Jak started out bringing up the back of the pack, but then took the lead as Fury appeared more comfortable behind the wheel. After that they switched into the upper zone, rathering to avoid traffic than people on the street.

"So..." Loor spoke up as the three of them fell in line (four if you count Daxter, but he wasn't driving), "I forgot to ask your names earlier."

Daxter was all too eager to jump up and do introductions. "I'm Daxter! And this is Jak." He leaned on Jak's head, using his partner's goggles as a hand-hold. "He's the side kick."

Lauren giggled, obviously not believing him for a second. "Right Daxter, and you're four foot three." She said sarcastically.

This comment got a chuckle from Jak, looking back slightly. "I think she nailed you, Dax." He commented with a half smile. "Careful Lauren, he might take you seriously."

Both girls laughed, and Daxter made a face while glaring at Jak. Still, the time for joking was just about over because they were crossing the city check-point into south town. Both girls sat up straight, and Lauren became tense. If things played out the way they did in the game, they were about to get attacked by an ambush of KG.

A sudden sound of gunfire from below heralded what she was expecting. Chelsea jumped, since a shot whizzed right by her. "Motherfu-" She managed to stop herself form cursing, looking down at a group of guards that had decided they were target practice. "Moving would be a good idea right about now!" She yelped while reaching to one of the holsters on her hip, yanking a pistol loose.

Jak quickly pored the speed on, putting his head down and leading the way, Fury right after him, though she was still sitting up a little to try and look down at the ground and see what they were dealing with.

Loor flattened to her zoomer to follow; Jak had the right of it, best to punch through as fast as possible and get to safety. She was pissed off at the lack of warning, figuring someone would at least try and yell 'surrender and die' at them before opening fire, but there wasn't much she could do about it.

Instead she ducked her head a little lower, hugging her zoomer with her body and gunning the engine. Usually, when doing this mission on the game, she would go onto the pedestrian ramps that ran through the industrial section; it would get her past the first roadblock without taking any damage, and KG zoomers wouldn't plow into her.

Thing was, half the times she tried that, she fell off the ramp from going too fast and ended up facing the wrong direction, still mashing the acceleration, and would usually run head-long into a wall and fail the mission because the stupid zoomer would blow up.

Now she was actually driving a zoomer for the first time in her life and under heavy fire.

She didn't have enough brain cells left that weren't spent on the thoughts of _OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK _to get fancy about shit. Keeping up with Jak and following him around corners was about all she could ask of herself at the moment.

Ahead, she heard Torn's voice over Jak's comm. unit.

"_They set up a road block!" _

Jak suddenly switched zones, taking the corner at the same time. There were more shots fired, and Loor nearly forgot how to switch zones in panic. At the last second she twisted the left handlebar, the nose of the zoomer dipping down as she cursed in several languages (having learned Japanese curses from Chelsea, German from her family heritage, and having a coded language she'd made up for a story she'd been working on back at home).

Jak, though he was moving the fastest and clearly finding his way one road at a time, managed to look back at her and smile.

Fucker was having fun.

_Oy. _

_**

* * *

**_

"Uh... Loor? Baby, you can get off the zoomer now."

Loor resembled a cat that had been dipped in water. She was clinging to the vehicle for all she was worth, and why not? She was only a girl who'd grown up in what could only be described as the most _sheltered _environment, never been exposed to real danger at any point in her existence, and who had just nearly been shot about ten times while doing eighty to ninety miles per hour on a zoomer that was maybe three times her size or less.

So, when Dax attempted to cajole her off of the zoomer, since they had indeed arrived at the Hip Hog Saloon, she barely reacted.

"_Onee-san," _Fury had already hopped down, trying to pry her sister off of the zoomer. "C'mon, it wasn't that bad. You didn't get hit, did you?"

"No." She answered shortly. "I just think my fingers might be fused to the handles, that's all."

"Well un-fuse them." Fury put her hands on her hips. "Or I will be forced to have no mercy."

"What are you talking about?" Jak questioned. He had pulled the zoomer with the eco oar attached to it up by the door and off the street. He didn't want someone pillaging it while they were inside, talking to the boss.

"Oh," Fury turned her head to smirk at the boys. "Loor's got this sweet spot at the top of her spine, and if you poke it just right-"

"I'M MOVING!" Loor yelped, detaching from her ride and jumping down. "Just _shut up." _

Fury grinned, happy that she was still able to manipulate her 'big sister' from time to time. "That wasn't so tough."

"You're evil." Loor grumbled.

"I learned from the best."

"I regret teaching you."

The boys chuckled at the girls bickering, leading the way inside the bar.

Walking in, Loor sorta knew what to expect. The Hip Hog Saloon was your basic bar-type joint, with booths for people to eat at, a bar up front with a giant mirror behind it, and a pole in the middle of the room with what looked like wrestling ropes around it. She first focused on the tall and heavily armored dark-skinned guy near the bar, recognizing him at once as Sig. She was used to his friendly demeanor through the game, so it was odd to see him look so intimidating.

She then made the mistake of looking up towards the ceiling.

Krew was floating about in his hover chair, his massive bulk shifting around like water in a balloon every time his course changed. The more she stared, the more folds she counted, layer after layer of fat piled up. It was clear the chair was also some sort of life-support system, because she was sure no living creature could get that fat without their heart giving out.

He looked down and noted their arrival, one grubby mitt holding a fan and waving; probably his daily exercise.

Daxter had to be an idiot the second they came in, looking to Jak with a grin. "Let _me_ handle this Jak, watch my finesse and style!"

Jak glared as Daxter jumped down to the floor. "Don't forget to ask about–"

Once again Daxter had forgotten that their main objective was to get information from Krew about why the Baron was giving eco to the metal heads. Now, when his partner tried to remind him, he wasn't listening.

"Don't worry! Nobody panic!" He assured, walking up to Sig and grinning. "Hey big guy." He threw out easily while passing between his boots.

He then faced forward and looked up to see Krew on his way down. There was a brief moment of shock, and Jak went around Sig to back Dax in the sudden absence of his 'finesse.' Daxter quickly got over it though, putting one his hands on a fuzzy hip. "You Krew? Well we shook the heat, and your shipment is in _prime-o_ condition."

Daxter then turned and quickly scaled back up to Jak's shoulder. The girls had come and joined him by now, though Loor had put a hand on Fury's shoulder to give a subtle 'hush' signal.

When Krew spoke, it sounded like he was wheezing. Speaking was clearly an effort for him, understanding just how much weight his lungs had to lift to fill. "That's good 'ey, because a bag of rare eco oar is worth more than _ten_ of your lives." Krew had moved in a slight circle to join Sig on one side. "And I'd be forced to collect... ah... 'slowly' _hmm?" _He chuckled slightly. "The underground will take anyone with a pulse these days..." He then took a second look at Daxter. "And what's this? The Shadow's mascot of the month?"

Dax looked like he was going to retch when Krew reached out and brushed a meaty hand down his face. "Oh, soft. Sig," He turned slightly when addressing the warrior-type. "That fur would go well with one of my silk suits, 'ey? And the ladies... we could use a few more on Friday nights if you're interested; probably pays better than whatever you're doing now."

Loor jolted, glaring and about to tell Krew off when Daxter flew into 'don't hurt me' mode at the thought of getting skun to go with some outfit Krew might wear.

"Uh... Krew, it's real obvious that you, and I, are the real juice in this burg. We're both players, right? We both want a piece of the action, right? I think we can do business... right?" He was slowly sinking behind Jak's shoulder armor.

Jak growled, his short temper showing up with his partner's antics. "We did you a favor, now it's your turn. Why are the Baron's Guards giving eco to metal heads?"

Krew flared up in kind, getting in Jak's face and holding up a flabby fist. "Questions like that can get a person killed, 'eh?" He then snorted, turning away and waving a signal. "Sig, pay our 'El Capitan' a bonus."

Loor smirked to herself as Jak backed up, suspecting this 'bonus' to be a bullet to the face, or the knees. He'd flown into a defensive position, looking about ready to run until Sig suddenly presented him with a weapon.

The morph gun with the scatter mod.

Jak went from defense to a devious grin, taking the offered item and nodding slightly. Daxter looked pretty surprised and smug as well.

Fury was just confused, but Loor was mentally squealing like a fan-girl.

Granted, she _was_ a fan-girl.

"There's a gun course out back." Krew said. "Show me some skill with that hardware, and I'll hire you for a job or two, 'ey?"

He didn't have to ask twice; they all left quickly. Sig followed them out, to collect the shipment, as the four of them turned out to the street and started walking.

Daxter turned to look back at the girls, and noticed something. "Hey, Loor, why aren't you packin' anything?"

"I'm a terrible shot." She admitted. "I tried shooting a few times, and I never hit the target."

"You hit a bird once." Fury giggled. "Accidentally."

"You should practice more." Jak looked back at the girls, slowing down to fall back between them instead of walking ahead. "Might be worth-while with what's going on around here."

She shrugged, shaking her head. "I decided not to bother. We shouldn't be here for too long anyway."

"How do you figure that?" Dax asked. "It's not like there's much out there beyond the security walls. Where you gonna go that isn't knee-deep in metal heads?"

"Home... though we're not quite sure where _that_ is." Loor shook her head. "We ended up in Haven after a little experiment gone wrong... as soon as I find someone to bounce ideas off of, we're finding a way home and getting the hell outta here."

"Experiment? What with, exactly?" Daxter's curiosity was endless.

"Energy and teleporter technology." She waved her hand to dismiss it. "Anyway, if you guys are going to go check out the gun course, I'm heading back to the underground. Fury, you wanna hang back get some practice or come with me?"

"I think I should give the gun course a try." Fury put her hands over her guns. "I've never used stuff like this before. I wanted to shoot before with those guards chasing us, but I wasn't sure enough to do it... that and I've never shot at people before..."

"Take it easy, kid." Dax advised. "It's best if you don't think of them as people, or if you do, think of 'em as people you _really _hate."

"Why don't you hang around?" Jak suggested to Loor. "You could give this thing a shot." He said while indicating the gun that was now holstered to his back.

She rolled her eyes, putting her hands up. "I ain't a shooter. You guys have fun, I'll meet you back at the underground."

"What's up with her?" Dax asked Fury as Loor walked off.

"She calls it an independence complex." Fury said with a shrug. "But the truth is Loor just doesn't like doing anything she's not amazing at after the first go. She gets embarrassed, and she won't let anyone help her."

"She'll get killed like that." Jak said with a frown.

"Hopefully we'll get home before we get in too much trouble..."

_Hopefully. _

* * *

**The Author's Corner**

Good Christ, this is... interesting to say the least. Looking back at some old scenes I kinda hem and haw and go "How the hell did anyone understand what the fuck I was saying the first time around? Why didn't anyone complain about this? HOW DID THIS SURVIVE?"

Yeah. This re-write was LONG overdue.

MEOW!

-Loor


	7. Reality

**CLEANED UP**

**Clean up notes:** This one still felt a little weird, but not as bad as it used to be. MEOW!

Guess who's coming in the next chapter...?

You know her, you missed her, and most of you loved her...

_**Lyra.**_

**Muhuhahahahaha!**

**I do not own Jak and Daxter. Sorry.**

**Vacation or War  
****Chapter Seven-Reality**

It was late evening by the time Loor made it back to the underground. She should have been back sooner, but she'd taken a detour while alone in hopes of solving her own problems as soon as possible.

She'd gone to the power station to try and find Vin, but the place was locked up tight.

Of course, he was probably still out at the strip mine, checking up on the operation out there to be later attacked by metal heads. He wouldn't be back at the power station till he was rescued from events that hadn't happened yet.

Strange... technically, she knew the future of this place. She had to mull that over as she drove back to the underground, getting a better feel for zoomers along the way. She wondered, now that she and Fury were part of the underground, would they get sent on some of the missions that were in the game, all on their lonesome? It was a frightening thought; that one of them might end up rescuing Vin, or chasing down Hellcat cruisers, or blowing up blastbots.

She shook her head, frowning. They weren't going to be there that long.

Arriving at the underground, she found Torn was present and occupying one of the eight bunk beds, particularly the top bunk on the left side, furthest from the door. It made her want to shake her head, though she wasn't sure why it bothered her that much. He was just sleeping.

Then it hit her; it was the same reason everything else bothered her. Things like everyone's voices, how they looked, and stuff they said. It was all things she hadn't seen in the game. Information that was not the norm. She had to shake the feeling though; she couldn't freak every time someone did something new.

Anyway, it wasn't a crime against nature. Truth be told, sleep sounded like a good idea. Turning to the left herself, she took the lower bunk closer to the door since it was in a corner. She liked corners, and quickly took the flat pillow on the bunk and crushed it into said corner.

She then took the time to remove her boots, carefully un-clipping them and pulling them off to stow under her bed. She had just removed her scarf, also tucking it away, when she heard the door opening.

"Don't do that, it'll go to his head..."

"But he's so cute! It would be a crime not to hug him once in a while! How can you resist him? He's so fluffy!"

"Cause I'm not gay..."

"Awe, Jak, I won't tell anyone if you don't..."

Lauren could hear Chelsea's ruckus laughter, turning to watch her sister, with Daxter in arms, enter with Jak.

"Nice to see everyone enjoying themselves." Loor commented with a lop-sided smile. "How'd you do on the gun course, Fury?"

"Not as good as Jak." She said with a pout. "But pretty good. He says I could probably hold my own against most metal heads, though I'd hate to go out alone..."

"You could take Dax with you..." Jak grumbled as he decided on the bunk above Loor, climbing up. It would seem Fury had made him uncomfortable by snuggling Dax.

"No." Loor protested. "There is no way I'm leaving my little sister alone with him."

"Loor!" Dax tried to make with puppy-eyes. "C'mon, you can trust me! It's not like I'm evil or nothing."

"Yeah, _onee-san!" _Fury had allowed the ottsel to climb up onto her head. "He's too cute to be evil."

Loor looked at her sister, raising an eyebrow. "Uh-huh... right. Too cute to be evil... Fury, if there's anything I've learned, the cuter something is, the more evil it is. Have you looked in a mirror _lately_?" She then moved to get her shirt off and settle in. She'd keep her pants, but there was no way she was sleeping with her weapon on her back. Once she'd slid her top off she leaned over the side of her bunk to push it underneath with the rest of her things...

To suddenly get clocked on the head by something heavy.

"Son of a-!" She snarled, looking up to see Jak moving quickly to get away from the edge of his bunk. Looking back down, she saw that he'd dropped his gloves on her head. She then looked up again, mouth open to start yelling at him, to have his shirt land on her face.

"You watch it!" She snarled, yanking the garment off of her face and stuffing it away. "I'll get you yet!"

"Nah." He finally peaked back over the side to smirk at her. "You'd never get close enough; I'd pick you off at a distance."

Loor was tempted to pout as she heard Daxter and Fury laughing. Jak was teasing her for refusing to practice with them earlier.

"Stuff it, Mr. Hero." She growled, taking his boots and holster as he handed them down nicely instead of tossing them; those would hurt a lot.

It was so strange for her to be interacting with anyone like this, the fact that it was her favorite game character of all time simply added to her own discomfort and confusion. She didn't _do_ people. She usually never hung around her friends for more than twenty four hours because she was prone to emotional explosions.

Not knowing how to handle the situation, she shut down, quickly hiding back in her bunk and pressing her shoulders into the pillow, yanking up the thin blanket to cover herself. She watched as Fury lost most of her gear, settling in to sleep on the bottom bunk furthest from the door on the right. Daxter took the top bunk closer to the door, opposite from his partner, able to curl up completely on the pillow.

Aware that everyone had settled in, she closed her own eyes and tried to relax. It was so strange; the last conscious memory she had was sitting in Chelsea's room, watching something like dark eco seep out of her playstation. Now, finally settling in to sleep, she was in the underground after escaping from the Baron's prison.

One hell of an eventful day, if she did say so herself. But right now was the moment of truth; if this was all a dream, and certain parts of her prayed it was, she would wake up upon falling asleep. She'd had long and detailed dreams like this before (well not quite like this) and in every case she woke up while laying her head down on the mental pillow.

But if she fell asleep and woke up in the underground, she'd be forced to accept it was all real. The Dark Warrior Program, Jak, Daxter, Torn, Haven, _everything. _It was mind-boggling, and made her want to curl up under her bunk and hide till the war was over.

She shook her head while tugging her pillow around, turning to face the corner and stretching out under the blanket. It couldn't possibly be real. Why would Fury have changed, and Loor felt no effect? Supposedly she'd been in that tube for longer than her friend, so shouldn't she have changed at some point too?

Shouldn't something have happened by now, if indeed she was a successful project of the Baron's?

Thinking the way she was, it wasn't long before she found herself yawning, and then, finally, dozing. She lost her focus of thoughts, letting them wander to and fro, snuggling her pillow and able to pretend, just for a moment, that she was home in her own bed.

_Just a nightmare... just a horrible nightmare... _

Her head jerked around violently.

* * *

Jak had not fallen asleep. He'd released himself from his equipment, laid back, gotten comfortable, and then stared at the ceiling. He should have been sleeping, since he had to be ready for whatever came next, but his mind was working too hard for him to drift off.

These two girls, Loor and Fury... how had they survived? He knew why he had lived; the blue sage told him back before he'd come to Haven. He had a talent for channeling eco. It was like his body had been made for it. But these two... did they have the same talent? Or was there something else about them?

He wondered if they'd both experienced the transformation, like he had. The day he'd escaped had been his first change, and it turned out to be a positive thing. Since then, he'd stopped trying to reject the eco. Before, like all other test subjects, he'd go into violent seizures as he tried to reject what didn't belong.

It was how most test subjects died; thrashing so hard they broke their head on cold metal floor of the fortress, or their neck from the lurid force. If they were able to ride out the rejection cycles, the taint of the eco usually killed them within a few weeks of testing.

Only he'd survived. He'd seen so many die over two years of treatments, but he'd survived. The rejection cycles had even become routine after a while. He knew when they were coming, and he'd pin himself somewhere with a pillow wrapped around his neck to soften the force.

But then he'd changed when Dax rescued him. After the first transformation, it all stopped.

But what if they hadn't gone through that yet? The thought was mildly upsetting to him. He had memory of being a cell across from someone who died going through the rejection cycle; listening to them flop about like a fish out of water. It had been torture, not being able to help, having to just sit there till the sickening crack of their skull coming open put an end to it.

He rolled over. He'd never be able to sleep if he kept thinking about that. Pressing his head into the pillow, he made an effort to close his eyes and try and shut off his brain.

In this effort, he felt the bunk sway under him. It was short, jerky movement, that suddenly stopped and then went the other direction.

Then the choked-off noise of someone trying to breathe through locked-up lungs.

He was up and out of bed like a shot. He _knew_ that noise. He knew what it meant.

The girl below him, Loor, hadn't had her first transformation yet. She was rejecting.

Thankfully, he was in a position where he could help for once. It had only just started, the less severe spasms of the neck having sent her into the panic that caused the whole event to escalate.

By now she'd rolled unto her back, her mouth open wide in the desperate attempt to breathe, something she wouldn't be able to do till she stopped panicking. All her efforts produced at the moment was a painful and squeaky noise of her lungs laboring.

He dove down, taking hold of her and yanking her away from the wall to the center of the bunk, pinning her shoulders down and holding them with his knees, also trapping her head between his thighs. He could see the muscles in her shoulders and neck, cording and sticking out at the random impulse to jerk about. He reached over her to hold the rest of her body down, looking as her eyes had finally come open. She must have been nearly asleep when this struck her; her eyes were wide and fearful.

"Calm down." He commanded. "It'll pass, but you have to calm down."

She would have nodded if her neck hadn't been twitching so much, but calming down was easier said than done.

She was terrified, staring up at the shape of a person she didn't even know. Her half asleep mind said she knew the voice, but she didn't want to trust. She looked up at the only part she could see clearly; the aqua eyes that told her she had to trust him, or die.

Slowly, the twitching died down. Moments later she was able to let in a shuddering breath that tasted _so_ sweet. She took her first few breaths in gasps, staring at the shape that loomed over her in the darkness. Something told her she knew him, but she had been asleep only moments ago... Her eyes were ill adjusted to the dim light she'd woken into, and her mind was a mess.

What had just happened to her? Where was she? She'd expected to wake up in her own bed from some kind of nightmare.

She looked at him again. Her eyes had begun to adjust by now, but what she saw didn't make sense.

"Are you okay?" He asked, still holding her down.

His voice. The eyes. She could see his face now. "No..." She whimpered, struggling. She wanted to run, to bolt for the door and somehow escape.

She wanted to escape this nightmare.

But the face she stared at was real. The bed under her back, and the room she laid in; all real as could be.

But it couldn't be. It just couldn't.

_I won't accept it. I can't. _

The twitching returned in her fear, the catch in her breath coming back as her terror brought back her body's reaction to what had been done to her. She felt like she was burning up on the inside, the whole of her person racked with pain as her neck tried to jerk free of the constraints that had been placed.

She stared up as Jak held her down, kept her from hurting herself. He shook his head at her, frowning in the darkness. "You have to calm down and stay calm, or it'll just come back."

She felt tears welling up, wanting to deny what she saw. She wanted to deny all of it, but it was right in her face, and it wasn't going away.

She gritted her teeth. She had to calm down; her lungs were aching for need of air.

The tears came more freely as she was able to draw in another shallow gasp. With it, she whispered, her voice one of desperation.

"You're not real..."

He had released her when she stopped struggling, and now he gave her a look as she proclaimed this. Had a monster started talking to her, dragging her into insanity by plaguing her thoughts? The eyes he got form her, her gaze didn't go through him, it stopped at his eyes.

"You're not real." She said with more strength, like a child protesting their first taste of reality.

She'd started hyperventilating now, glancing around. He took hold of her again, frowning. "Keep calm, or it'll start up again."

She shook her head, sniffing and swallowing. "It's not real... it's not real... it can't be..."

In her mind she knew it was real. It was no longer a nightmare; it was her life no matter how illogical and impossible it was.

He thought she was talking about a creature similar to the beast that lived in his mind. The mental split that dark eco had caused in him; that he'd had a similar reaction to. He'd denied it for the longest time, wanting to ignore the voice that ripped his sanity.

"Jak..." Her voice pleaded, as if he could change it. "It's not..."

"It is real." He said, finding that the truth was always the best answer to such chaos.

She closed her eyes a moment, tears sliding down her cheeks, before managing a sad nod. She knew. Then, finally, her tense muscles relaxed.

A few moments later he noted that she'd passed out like that, falling into sleep.

* * *

**The Author's Corner**

So I'm going on a little mini-vacation this weekend... So yeah, you all probably won't see more cleaned up chapters till next week. Sorry! I'm going fishin, alright? MEOW!

Hope you are all enjoying the story.

-Loor


	8. The Split

**CLEANED UP**

**Clean up notes: **Enter: LYRA!

You know what I would _love_ to do? Make kinda a flash animation like thing with someone interviewing Lyra. That would be hilarious, but I have no idea what I'd do for questions. I mean, what do you ask an emotionally-based evil beast? And who would interview her? G.T. Blitz?

Bah, again this chapter is continuing the trend of pacing, slowing down the content to a more consistent and less compressed state.

**I don't own Jak and Daxter. MEOW!**

**Vacation or War  
****Chapter Eight-The Split**

Lauren was awake. Not happy about it, but awake. Her head hurt like hell, and she didn't remember where she was. She didn't open her eyes, trying to recollect where she'd laid her head down for the night... She was totally disoriented, her senses slowly coming in and making her realize she was not waking up at home in her room.

No, the air was enough. It was summer, the time of year when she had the window open most of the time so she could go outside in the middle of the night. The air in her room always smelled clean and fresh, like the outdoors. Wherever she was now, the air was thick with a hint of smoke, like someone had a wood-burning stove going. It was too warm for a summer night's breeze, and the quality was all wrong.

Shifting slightly, she knew she was on a bed different than her own. The mattress was hard, there was only one small pillow, and she could feel a single scratchy blanket under her back.

Not her room. Not her bed. She felt a brief moment of fear. Where _was_ she?

There were no answers on the insides of her eyelids; she forced herself to look at her surroundings.

She blinked a few times as she stared up at a bunk above her. She was sleeping on a bunk bed. She allowed a moment for that to process before looking off to her left.

A jolt hit her as she saw Torn climbing down from his bunk, fully dressed, shoving a gun into one of the holsters he wore on his hips.

_Oh God... _

She moved quickly to sit up, looking at herself in shock. It was a painful ordeal, all of her muscles rather sore after floating in a tank for two weeks and then walking around all day. She felt like all the nerves had been ripped off her body, making her ache as they grew back.

She glanced up at Torn, who was ignoring her, and quickly got up to go outside. She didn't bother with her boots or her shirt; her sports bra was good enough. She had to look, she had to see the world outside.

She stood in the doorway to the street, showing her the bright morning sun shining down on the slums.

_It's real... it's all fucking real!_

_**Took you long enough to figure that out...**_

"What the hell?" She yelped, jumping forward and looking behind herself, back into the stairwell that led into the underground. There was no one there, but she already knew that. No, this voice... it was in her head, but it wasn't like the voice she usually argued with. That voice sounded just like her. That was merely her thinking at herself.

This was something else.

She was shaking, fearful. Hearing voices was something she rather dreaded; her mother's side of the family had a long history of mental illness, including DID, or dissociative identity disorder (also known as split personalities). Her mother had suffered from a split in her teen years, and if there was anything Lauren truly feared, it was falling to the same fate. She'd always been strange, or so she'd been told by her peers. She could accept strange, there was nothing _wrong_ with strange. But to be truly crazy, to be broken, made ill-fit for the world around her by her mind...

_No! NONONONO! I'll... I'll just fix myself if it's come to that. I will **not** succumb to insanity. _

_**Tch, are you really that stupid, Loor? You've studied that silly 'disorder' since you knew you had family history. You know that I wouldn't talk to you unless I'd taken over your psyche. **_

She was feeling sick, backing up against the wall on the other side of the alley, grabbing her hair in her hands and shaking her head. _No! All cases are different, I can't dismiss you on a technicality... but... I've taken all the cations to be self aware... all the pains to try and stamp an alter out before it arises... there's no __**fucking**__ way!_

_**No need to curse... I'm right here, you could try and be civil... goodness knows I'm going to be here for the rest of your life.**_

_You... who... what... no! Asking what you are is simply accepting you. _Even mentally, her voice trembled. She felt small, shrinking all the time.

_**Accept me or not, I'm still here. **_She, in contrast, had a higher and mysterious voice, oozing confidence... with an animal-like rasp hanging at the end of her words. It frightened Lauren. No, scratch that, it terrified her.

_I... you... it's... you can't... I worked so hard... it's..._

_**Not possible? Think again. Or not, seeing as it doesn't really matter what you think. I'm real... but I don't assume I'm the garden verity mania you've spent most of your life fearing. No... there was already something of a rift forming in your mind anyway, but I'd say eco is quite the catalyst, hm?**_

She stopped shaking, her head lifting from her hands as she stared out in shock. Eco. Dark eco.

This... _thing_... was...

_You're a 'dark.' _

_**I... suppose; that's a rather odd way of putting it. **_

_And what would you call yourself? _She asked this while hugging herself, still sick to her stomach. She couldn't believe she _was_ asking, since she'd read the easiest time to rid the psyche of a split was when it first arouse; before it cemented its own place in a person's head. Letting it name itself was like naming a pet; it made it all the harder to get rid of.

Not that she knew. All she had was book-learning.

_**Me? After several hours of going through your memories; Lyra. **_

_Lyra?_

_**That's my name, self-appointed I might add. I wasn't going to let you pick something for me. **_

_But... Lyra is the hero. Lyra Silvertongue is the hero of His Dark Materials. Great books, but an odd name to pick..._

_**She's a damn good hero if you ask me. She's a deceiver, and took shit from no one. I found her name fitting for a someone like me.**_

_This... this is way too much... _

Lauren had to shake her head as she heard Lyra laughing at her.

She had to block it out. The honey-sweet laugh was chilling, and she could feel emotions that were not her own. Her own terror was stark, making her body hot and struggle with something as simple as standing still. Then, like an ice-cube in hot coffee, her primal fear was shoved out of the way for something that found the whole situation rather entertaining. Quite hilarious, even. On this ice-cube wasn't melting, simply causing an uncomfortable rift in the difference in feelings.

She put her hands over her face, gritting her teeth and slamming her head back against the wall behind her. _NO! _She commanded, bellowed at her own psyche. She willed the feeling away, shoved it into a corner, locked it into a cage and turned her back on it. She refused this... this...

_This alter. That's what the book called them; a second personality is an alter. _

She had a horrible awareness now, what felt like static electricity the day before setting her senses alight like a terrible toothache. She could feel the eco in her body, sparking and snapping if she dared to focus on it. She tried not to though, pressing harder to reinforce her mental block, to stave off the pain.

So it was set in stone now. Not only was all of this real, but the Dark Warrior Program had done its job, fully.

And it had brought her worst nightmare to life.

"Uh... Loor?"

The girl looked up, shocked out of her own mind when called out. It didn't get much better was she saw _who_ was calling her out; Jak was standing in the doorway of the underground. He had his shirt back on, but not the rest of his effects.

His eyes were wide with concern, but she realized the frown on his face also expressed a measure of understanding. Had he watched her little mental episode? She'd been facing the door the whole time, but her eyes hadn't registered anything the moment she started talking to... Lyra, as she called herself.

Did he go through the same thing? With the look he was giving her, he had to.

"How much of that did you see...?"

"Enough." He moved to the side, waving at her to come back. "First time?"

"Y-yeah..."

"You get used to it." He assured, ushering her inside.

She only nodded, moving quickly to go and get her effects back on. Jak had already fetched all of his stuff from under the bunk, having come to get her when he noticed she was missing, and all of her things were still under the bunk as well. She wouldn't have gone far in the slums without some sort of shoes with how broken up the streets were.

Now she sat, suiting up quickly as Jak got the remainder of this stuff on, woke Daxter and coaxed the sleepy ottsel onto his shoulder, and got moving for the door. This made Torn look up quizzically, since the tattooed wonder hadn't told anyone to go anywhere yet. Clearly unimpressed with the blond youth's lack of care towards the overall goals of the underground, Torn turned his steely gaze upon the girls.

Fury had just been waking, stretching and getting her things on as well. Loor had just gotten up after strapping her boots, reaching behind her back and giving her juice rod a tug to make sure it was secure.

"You." Torn said, pointing at Loor. "Follow Jak; help him out with whatever he's doing so he gets back here sooner." The then looked over at Fury. "And you, I heard you scored pretty well at the shooting range the other night. I have a few things you should be able to handle."

"So what?" Loor growled, crossing her arms at the thought of her and Fury getting separated again. Last night was okay; the gun course wasn't dangerous. But Fury getting sent on mission by herself? Lauren would not stand for that. "I'm a glorified baby-sitter? Jak can take care of his own stuff."

"You're whatever the hell I tell you to be!" Torn snapped. "Now get your ass moving before I move it for you."

The girls looked at each other, but Fury managed a smile. "I'll be okay, _onee-san._ Get going, I'll see you later."

"You sure?" She had to ask, still shaking off her own recent episode of mental instability. She had to wonder, had Fury experienced anything like that yet? She'd transformed, but had anything spoken to her? Her little sister had tried to tell her so much yesterday, Loor now feared having cut her off on such important points.

But now was not the time to ask, not with Torn glaring at the two of them.

"Sure I'm sure." Fury grinned now, standing up and pulling one of her pistols from its holster, spinning it around her finger before catching it. "Jak showed me a few tricks I can't wait to try."

"Alright." She finally managed to smile back, jogging back to the door before the Tattooed Wonder blew a gasket. She looked around for Jak once she got outside, but he was nowhere to be found and the zoomer that was usually parked on the corner was missing. _Great, _she had to try and keep up with a dark renegade on foot while he had the advantage of a zoomer.

But she had the advantage of knowing the game inside out.

She started walking as she dug through her knowledge of the game, though doing so distracted from keeping her mental blockade up. At first she tried to balance thinking with imagining a giant steel wall to keep Lyra at bay, but she just didn't have enough mental coordination to do both.

On the other hand... what was she truly afraid of? What was this thing going to do to her?

She had no idea. She feared the unknown.

Taking a deep breath, as if that would prepare her, she let the block drop and focused on her memories. She'd expected Lyra to start talking to her again, but instead she felt a single emotional response to the freedom she'd just granted; curiosity. The beast wanted to know what had Loor's attention, joining her in picking through events past. It felt like little fingers, ticking through files in a drawer, skimming over the contents with the genuine wish to know.

Loor came upon her own answer soon enough; the mission after going to the gun course was getting sent out with Sig to the pumping station to bag a few nasty metal heads; the trophies would be used to decorate the Hip Hog and boost business. Jak would be heading to South Town to talk to Krew, which was all well and good. He had the city pass, but she didn't, and turned her feet toward the flooded part of the slums. She imagined, even on foot, she might beat him over to the drain in the north wall that would let her out of the city and into the area of the pumping station.

Then she just had to explain that Torn sent her to baby-sit. That irked her to no end; the tattooed wonder thought she was more qualified to keep an eye on Jakkie-boy than to take actual missions. Granted, all she'd done was shot Errol... point-blank. Fury had at least participated a bit in some training, turning out tangible results.

_What the hell was I gonna do at a gun course with a juice rod? _

_**Should have taken Jak up on his offer to let you use his gun... it might've been fun.**_

Loor jolted, nearly tripping her own feet. _I wasn't talking to you! _

_**You were thinking. I live here. You don't want to hear from me, stop thinking so hard. Still... **_

The little fingers stopped on a particular folder, drawing out its contents. The memory of the VC-M1 suddenly took the spotlight of her mental awareness, but she managed not to outwardly react.

_**I can see why you freaked out. So all this used to just be a fantasy for you, brought to life on a happy little accident. And myself, an extra wrinkle you didn't even expect.**_

_Happy little accident my ass. It's a disaster. _

Lauren had passed from the main section of the slums to the area that led up to the wall. The road ended, a tangle of bridges and walkways leading between homes built on stilts in the water. She always thought it was a poor section of the wall, and that this area was flooded, but she didn't actually know. What she did know is that the lack of rails on the walk ways made her extremely uncomfortable, wanting to walk down the center of each bridge but having to keep right to stay out of other peoples' way.

This discomfort was in her mind as well; Lyra had become irritated about something. _**So you'd rather run home with your tail between your legs than explore? There's so many new things... and let's not forget this Jak person. **_

Loor took that irritation as her own and became angry and defensive. _What about him? I just dropped in from another world and you want me to get romantic?_

_**Oh-ho! I said nothing of the sort, but it would be quite fun, don't you think? I got a glimpse through your eyes, and I'd say he looked quite suitable for a bit of play. **_

A new feeling bloomed between her ears. It was warm, and seemed to have a straight line to her gut. It took Lauren a moment to identify it, but she shoved it away quickly once she did. Done with her memories, and with little reason to stay in her own brain case, she put her barrier back up. She didn't want to even _think_ about what this creature was suggesting.

Yes, she was a fangirl, but to subject a living person to her flights of fancy was just straight wrong. She'd hardly looked at him that way since arriving, too out of her mind with her own issues. Sure, the night before she'd had a brief moment, seeing him grin over the scattergun, but that's because she squee-ed over that face while playing the game. She knew it was coming.

Outside of what happened in cut scenes, places were the unknown lurked, she was too focused on herself and keeping her guard up.

She growled at herself, quietly, while picking up the pace. She had to ignore Lyra, and all other distractions, if she had any hope of getting home.

* * *

**The Author's Corner**

Ah, Lyra. I don't get why people like Lyra so much, but hey, I don't know why a lot of my characters get as popular as they do. Characters like say... Corky, or Slink, or that motherfucking teddy bear in Markings. People fall in love with characters that I make to be insignificant, or hated.

Bah, oh well.

Freakin' teddy bear...

And before anyone asks, _yes_ I do have family history of DID, I have studied it since I found out about said history, and I refuse to see a psychiatrist because my mother has told me horror stories about what the medication does to you. But here's an odd fact for you; on days I don't write, I become incredibly unstable. My keyboard is my therapy, keeping me sane... ish.

**ONWARD!**

-Loor


	9. Metal Heads 101

**CLEANED UP**

**Clean up notes for this chapter: **Well, well, well, we've caught up with the content of the forth chapter... on chapter nine. Yeah, more un-packing and patching up poor sections of narrative/dialog. Hope you're liking it so far.

**I don't own it people. If I did, TLF would not exist. Seriously. I will not accept that _thing_ as canon information. Ever. I'll prolly post a rant about that on my profile someday, but not right now. **

**Vacation Or War  
****Chapter Nine- Metal heads 101**

Lauren had beaten Jak to the security door. The person she didn't beat was Sig; he pushed past her just as she arrived, doing something with the peacemaker. He gave her a questioning look, like he remembered seeing her before but was confused as to why she was there. She beat him before he could ask, leaning on the inside of the pipe that the door was in. "I'm with Jak, I just got here first." She said, managing a smile.

Sig mirrored the smile, his one eye easing off from what could have been a glare. "Oh, and you're gonna help too chili pepper?" He asked, his tone teasing. "I think you might be in the wrong weight class for this sorta thing."

She felt the urge to either glare or pout, feeling shorter than usual. Still, getting mad at Sig for teasing sounded like a terrible idea. He was a wastelander, and only had respect for people who could prove themselves by definition. So, instead of getting upset, she gave a confident smile while yanking her weapon from her back, expanding it and giving a showy spin. "Light weights move fast. Don't worry about me."

"Wouldn't dream of it." He said with a smirk, getting close enough to the door for it to begin its long process of unlocking and opening. "You should talk to Krew about some hardware after this. No one gets far around here without packing some heat."

"I don't plan to be around long." She answered with a shrug. "And I'm a terrible shot."

"Practice." The big wastelander suggested, the door opening and the two of them entering the air lock and waiting for the second door. "Nothin' wrong with being prepared."

She shifted uncomfortably, disliking the fact that she was on the spot. "Eh... I'll think about it. Sounds like overkill."

"When you need it, and don't got it, you'll be singin' a different tune." He assured her with a chuckle, the door finally opening.

Lauren thought she knew what to expect when she looked outside, but found herself shocked; the sandy strand that led up to the pumping station was no big deal, but it was the creatures ambling about on the ground that gave her a jolt.

Metal heads.

It was one thing to see people go from animation to real as could be, but these creatures just about blew her out of the water. Grunt-type metal heads, things that she could and did count the polygons on in the game were now properly proportioned beasts, dark purple hide over bulging muscles made for chasing and taking down. Paws as large as human hands, no longer unintelligible bricks, but bear-like appendages with individual and lethal-looking claws. No apparent ears, but bright yellow eyes set just under a glowing skull-gem, and a mouth full of teeth with prominent fangs.

Juice goons were also stalking about, bipeds with weapons, but still lizard-like. These were even more mind-bending, what with being somewhat humanoid, but dark blue with scales and inverted knees. Again, the skull gem that made the trophy held her eyes, making her wonder the purpose of such a flashy item. Was it like birds, where big and shiny decorations won you breeding rights? She'd never seen a separation of male and female with these creatures, and she wasn't really in position to study.

Sig reinforced that fact when he moved for the cover of a small grouping of trees, dragging her along when she didn't move. "C'mon cherry, no time to stare while they're still walkin'."

"I..." She shook her head fiercely as they both crouched down, though it was more like he'd dragged her down. She was still dazed. It wasn't just that they looked different, they looked _deadly. _Animated, most metal heads looked cool, even bad-assed, but none looked truly dangerous before storming the metal head nest. Of course, on the television screen, they were the size of your thumb. And death was something that happened once every half hour to every few hours, depending on how you played. Now...

She felt rather vulnerable.

It was a feeling she disliked, and ultimately rejected. She was not a meek creature, nor a humble one. Her pride made her rather ashamed of her fear. Her shock changed, shifting as she got her game face on. She was armed with something rather like her practice weapon at home. She knew how to strike, how to block, and she had good reflexes. Sure, the stakes were higher, but she could roll with it.

She just had to face it head-on.

She looked up again, her twitchy fear shifting over as well, her muscles tensing up to be ready for quick reactions. She changed her grip on her weapon from the loose hold she used for trick-spins and tosses to how she held it when play fighting, though her fingers were much tighter on the handle than they would be when she was pretending. Not too tight, she reminded herself, unless she wanted to engage the weapon's more 'shocking' attributes.

Both her and Sig turned to look as the security door began to open again. Moments later, Jak and Daxter entered. They made first eye-contact with Sig, who grinned, before noting Loor with mild curiosity. Still, they didn't get time to ask why she was there, or how she even knew to show up, before Sig broke in to greet them. "Hello chilli peppers. Ready to hunt some metal heads?" He chuckled, getting up and tossing the peacemaker up into his hands. Lauren followed, making a quick motion to crack her now stiff neck.

Maybe she was still a little anxious, not that she'd admit it.

"Stay close, and watch my six." Sig instructed before grinning. "This is gonna be fun!"

Jak nodded, drawing out the scattergun and looking down to where the metal heads had grouped together. He and Sig went right ahead, Sig's peacemaker featuring a longer-range blaster-type fire along with the high-powered fire it was known for, picking off metal heads while on the run in.

Loor brought up the rear, the boys splitting left and right and leaving her down the center. She hadn't the time to think about what exactly she was running towards, and when she realized it she didn't have the capacity to stop, adrenaline making her feet move faster. She was staring straight at one of the grunts she'd been oogling moments before, holding her weapon in both hands and having no idea of what to do with it.

Because of that, she ran right past the creature as it turned suddenly, a paw with claws the size of piano keys reaching for her as she charged by.

Sharp piano keys.

Still, her road-runner act was aiming her straight for a wall, and her target was right behind her and now pissed about missing her on the first shot. With a leap she landed one foot on the wall, the other kicking her body in a quick 180 to turn and land, crouching in the sand to adsorb the shock and staring up.

The metal head had jumped after her, a living missile coming in to rip her apart. Its jaws gaped wide, fangs in a dark fleshy mouth.

She rolled forward, turning around in the sand watching the beast bash its head on the wall she just kicked off of, briefly dazed. She sensed an opportunity, but she hardly knew what to do with it.

The brief red glow of a slug from Sig's gun hit the metal head in the shoulder, making the creature whip around just in time to take another shot in the skull.

The girl turned, panting, swallowing as Sig shot her a smirk. The boys had made short work of the metal heads they'd gone for, and Jak had also been standing by to assist. "Shoulda had it on the first pass, cherry!" Sig coached. "Breathe a little; these are the easy ones."

She felt her eyebrows raise, then draw down. He was right; she should have struck on the first run. The fact that she had to be told that irritated her. Sig moved on, hopping up on one of the two pistons that were pumping in and out of the ground. Jak only spent a moment more to ask a question.

"First time?" He asked, though this was different than that morning. Before he asked with concern. Now he was teasing her.

"Never seen a metal head in the flesh before." She admitted. "Let's just move."

Sig was already up top, having bashed up the group of green goobers (say that ten times fast) and waiting for the others to catch up. "Hurry up, cherries!" He called, clearly impatient to get on with the hunt. He was facing a large water storage tank, the peacemaker ready to charge. "Get behind me while I toast that tank!"

Such direction was followed obediently, particularly when the peacemaker began arcing energy as it charged up. Daxter had hopped down for the moment to look up in wonder at the heavy weapon, Sig taking careful aim before firing.

A large ball of destruction flew from the weapon, smashing into the tank and effectively exploding it. Loor and Jak both ducked, and Daxter was nearly nailed by a flying piece of debris, scampering back up to Jak's shoulder for safety. There were more juice goons beyond the tank, and Loor's bruised ego made her run out first. She had a plan this time, her weapon held behind her as she ran in.

The creature she'd locked onto whipped about to look at her, hopping as she launched at it. She couldn't stop; her weapon coming forward into both hands as her knees came up to hit her target before the rest of her. It was a stupid-crazy move, and practically a kamikaze run in her mind.

But she couldn't let them think she was totally wet behind the ears. Both she and Fury would come into question if she didn't prove her own worth in combat.

She hit the juice goon just as it had hopped, bowling it over and going down with it as she locked her legs around its shoulders, bellowing as she threw her whole body into bringing one bladed end of her weapon down into its head. The attack glanced off of the skull gem, slipping to the top of the cranium and then plunging in, brief resistance breaking as she smashed through its skull. It screamed as she did so, thrashing and making her hold difficult. Without thinking she yanked her weapon to the side and then around in a stirring-motion, the long handle acting like a lever.

A sickening crack signified a broken neck on the metal head's part. She'd killed it. That brought on a whole new unpleasant feeling, but she was hardly in the condition to take it in, looking up to see if there was any more trouble coming for her. Thankfully not, Jak having ran ahead to clear the way while Sig took care of the other juice goon on their current path.

She yanked her weapon free of the beast's skull, standing up and looking at the blade she'd shoved into its brain.

Dark purple blood shined on the weapon, drops of it rolling down the handle. Had she been calmer she would have noted the burning ache she'd felt since she broke out of the fortress had intensified, but at the moment all she could register was an extreme want to touch it; a feeling that came from Lyra. So addled, she couldn't help but do so. It was an action that took less than two seconds, but a sensation she would remember for a lifetime.

The sudden spark, pins flowing from the point of contact, burning her nerves and osmosis-ing up through her flesh. It reminded of a sponge picking up a small amount of water, a single corner saturating before the rest of the sponge spreads the moisture out, leaving the sponge slightly and equally damp all over. Only she knew she hadn't picked up water in this transaction.

The blood on her weapon had changed bright red; she'd adsorbed eco from it.

She broke away by charging forward again. There was no time to dwell, but she was left electrified. Taking on that charge had meant something to her body, even if her brain didn't know exactly what yet.

She spared only a glance to the metal head she'd taken out, her first kill, before focusing on catching up with the boys.

**

* * *

**Lauren could hardly contain a whoop of victory when Sig took out the last of the large metal heads he was after, whipping her sodden hair out of her face. What with? Nervous and adrenaline fueled sweat and a little bit of blood. Most of it was not hers, but for a single long scratch on her arm where she'd been tagged during the fighting. The boys had gotten out with zero damage, and Sig was pretty much clean of any evidence that they'd just been hunting.

Jak, on the other hand, had several spots of blood on him. Not his, of course, and most of the smudges were on purpose. Loor had actually seen him stop at some of her kills to touch at gaping wounds she'd left, having avoided any blood that didn't land directly on her. The more eco she'd taken on, the more she felt like she was going to spontaneously combust. Jak apparently had a better handle on the feeling, seeming hardly bothered by what he'd gone out of his way to take up more.

"That's the last one." Sig said, a big smile spreading over his scarred face, the damaged skin under his missing eye crinkling as he turned to Jak and Loor. "Tell Krew we got 'em all cooked and canned. I'm gonna clean up peacemaker here and collect the trophies." He then started to walk, turning back for a moment. "You two rookies did good."

"Yeah right." Loor chuckled while smoothing her hair back again. Finally calming down, she could smell the fact that she either needed a bath or to find some heavy-duty deodorant. "Remind me to argue with Torn a little more the next time he sends me to be supervisor."

"Hey, it was your first time out, wasn't it?" Sig pointed out, still smiling. "You're still breathin', and not too worse for wear. I'd call that a win in my book."

"Torn sent you to keep an eye on us?" Daxter asked as Sig walked off to the edge of the beachfront, she and Jak moving to go back to the door and get into the city. "What, did the guy think we needed a wet-nurse?"

"I think he was pissed you took off without orders." Loor chuckled, finally letting her weapon collapse and snapping it into its holster. "Figured if he sent me along you'd be done with whatever a bit faster. Fuck-lot that did though... Think I mighta slowed you guys down in the end."

Jak shrugged, reaching over to inspect her damaged arm without asking. "It's good experience, especially if you've never done this kind of thing before... I'll tell Krew what's going on later; this cut isn't too bad, but we should fix it up anyway."

Jak made no comment on the fact that her blood was purple, but the sight of it shocked her yet again. She was far from used to such abnormality, and stared.

Uncomfortable again, she pulled back her arm and nodded. "Yeah..." She then began to walk a bit faster, taking the lead. She looked ahead to the door, but noted Jak in her peripheral vision, speeding up to keep even with her.

She glanced at him, tempted to start trotting to stay ahead. It was her competitive nature; to prove herself better than those around her. People considered her a lot of bark, but she loved to show she had the bite to back it up when others ignored her. He returned the glance when she pressed to a faster speed-walk, keeping pace.

They then both looked at the door, traded smirks, and broke into a race. Loor felt confident at first, since most of her strength was in her legs. She loved to run, particularly on humid summer evenings with a stiff wind in her face. There was something liberating in it, almost like flying. Her love of that feeling had her sprinting often, her legs her most powerful asset and what she found the most prideful part of her figure.

Of course, she'd also been floating in a tank for two weeks. The first shot of weakness and pain came as she launched forward, a second helping when Jak passed her by and she dug in to keep up. Her pride was the only thing that kept her from being completely left in the dust, hitting the door at a full run and pulling the same wall-walking move she'd done before, able to get two steps up while killing her momentum. Jak, who'd gotten there first, laughed as she landed and forced herself back up from crouching, leaning on the door and panting.

"I'll get you yet..." She swallowed while glaring up, though it was a playful glare. She was something of a sore loser, but she didn't complain and bitch about technicalities. She just insisted on continuous re-matches. One of her virtues was that she never gave up when she had someone to impress. "Just watch... ah!"

Loor yelped as she was suddenly dumped on her ass by the door opening automatically. Daxter started laughing his ass off at her, Jak holding back a chuckle with a hand placed lightly over his mouth. Needless to say, Lauren was now laying on the floor, looking up at the boys and slowly reddening.

"Right..." Jak said, holding out a hand to help her up. She only took it for a moment, grabbing and tugging (nearly yanking him down in the process), and letting to to let momentum do the rest. Daxter was jerked loose as Jak caught his balance again, looking to her as she straightened, threw her black hair back behind her shoulders, and walked toward the other door, now open, with all the grace and dignity she could possibly muster. Her body language clearly said; 'Nothing happened. Don't look at me.'

Her face had turned crimson.

Jak rolled his eyes as Daxter scuttled back up to his place on his partner's shoulder. "What was that all about...?" The ottsel questioned.

"Hey!" Jak called as Loor passed the door, standing in it to keep it from closing. He didn't really care about the odd little stunts she pulled, but there were KG creates in the air lock. It was the closest and most likely place to find first-aid, and she was just moving along because she was embarrassed.

"What?" She stopped, whipping around, still bright as a cherry.

Was it that bad that she'd fallen over? Didn't she know how to laugh at herself once in a while?

"There's probably some stuff for your arm back over here." He said, indicating with a point of this thumb over his shoulder.

Her face blanked, then threatened to sink even deeper into the realm of red, facing her boots as she came back. "Oops... stopped thinking there."

"Didn't hit your head on the way down, did ya sweet cheeks?" Daxter teased, smirking.

She didn't respond, aside from an irritated noise from deep in the throat. If she had pockets, she would have stuffed her hands in them. Jak ignored her, turning to the crates he'd seen before in the corner, giving one a kick and finding a health pack among some ammo. He took the rounds for himself, picking up the little green eco pack and handing it to Loor.

The girl practically jumped when he did so, looking at the little item and taking it gingerly. "Uh... how...?"

"Pull the top off." Dax instructed, not questioning why she didn't already know that. The basic property of green eco was reversing damage on organic things, acting as soon as it touched.

She stared a moment before doing as she was told, yanking the top off and then stifling a yelp. The explosion of green was short, and she had a stiff frown on her face that said that was not even close to what she was expecting.

Jak had to hold back another chuckle. She looked funny when she was shocked or embarrassed, somewhat like a young and clumsy feline that hadn't grown into her paws yet but was doing her best to act like an adult.

Daxter laughed. "You act like you've never seen eco before!" He chastised as she inspected her arm the moment the event was over. The damage was gone, a little bit of dried blood being the only evidence that there'd ever been a slice there.

"I wasn't expecting it to explode like that!" She snapped, looking to Jak to ignore Daxter. "What next?" She asked quickly, not wishing to dwell on the subject of her shortcomings in field experience.

"Torn was pissed enough to send you along to hurry us back." Jak reminded, crossing his arms. "I _guess_ we should go back and see what's got him up in knots. That and we should ask about your sister... if she's as 'experienced' as you are."

"Ah, shuddup." She turned to lead the way back into the city once more, still absently rubbing where she'd been bleeding moments ago. "She shoots, so she don't have to get up close and personal. And before you even suggest it again, I'm _not_ getting a gun."

Both boys had been about to do just that. Dax responded to the warning, but Jak didn't lay off. "You should at least try it before you decide it's totally useless to carry one. Anyway, like you said, you _shot_ Errol. Bullets gotta be worth something, even if it's only point-blank."

She felt her shoulders tensing up, her general instinct to lash out starting to spark. She had sharp words on her tongue, but they froze as another feeling took hold. It was similar to feeling Lyra's emotions bleed through her own, but the beast was currently blocked off so that wasn't possible. This sensation was something else, not an emotion, but a definite tug on her mind.

A pulling sensation, trying to lead her. She looked to Jak, the look on his face telling her he had to be going through the exact same thing. They both had the feeling of something calling to them.

He started walking without questioning it, and she followed as her mind scrambled for the possible cause. She tore down her safe-guards in the thirst for answers.

It didn't take her long to think of the Oracle.

* * *

**The Author's Corner**

YAY! NEW CHAPTER!

It makes me so happy to make progress. Even if it's a re-write, it makes me happy.

One more and the first ten chapters will be re-done.

And we'll have only made it through the original content of the first four.

Wow... that's just sad. Oh well. Time for me to sleep now! Remember, notify me of any new grammar/spelling errors you find, and I'll do my best to fix them in a timely fashion. Love you all, thank you for reading, please take a moment to review!

-Loor


	10. Changed

**CLEANED UP**

**Clean up notes for this chapter:** Some cleanup, more un-packing, a bit more focus on the 'wrong' feeling when Loor's in situations that could go horribly bad... yeah, that's about all.

ONWARD!

**Don't own it. Never owned it. Though, if I ever got rich enough, I would love to buy the rights... Man oh man, would that be amazing or what? _Buy _the rights to Jak and Daxter; then I could publish this crap. BUT till then, it's fanfiction. I'm not making any money off it. **

**Vacation or War  
****Chapter Ten-Changed**

Jak felt uneasy, walking along the docks as the strange sense in his head led him. There was something wrong in the air... things felt tense, like a rope stretched to the very edge of snapping apart. He had no idea why things felt that way, but he did know that this strange... _wrong_ feeling clung to Loor. The girl didn't seem to note the tension in the air, looking quite involved in her own mind, but it got worse with every step they took together.

It was like a finger bent the wrong way, on the verge of breaking, or hyper-extending your shoulder. Things were just a few bits of force away from going to hell. Daxter was picking it up too, getting fidgety on his shoulder and looking back to their female companion often. The two didn't trade words on it, just anxious looks.

Loor, on the other hand, was too busy questioning what the current proceedings could possibly mean. The Oracle gave new abilities to Jak for his dark side in the game in exchange for skull gems, but she hadn't seen the blond youth collecting any. Anyway, collecting arbitrary numbers of items seemed too much like a game-play mechanic to make any sense. No, the Oracle had to do something else...

And she was getting pulled in too. That should couldn't forget; both she and Jak were being drawn across the docks toward one of the few buildings that wasn't completely falling apart. It had to be eco-related, but she currently feared asking Lyra. The creature had been loose in her mind only moments ago, when she'd gone diving to find her memorized time-line of game events, and moments later she began to experience a head-splitting ache that sent sparks down her spine.

It had made her twitch and jerk, like the strange seizures she'd experienced before, and she reacted by clamping down on her beast once again. Lyra had been attempting to do something, and she could certainly venture a guess as to what.

Lyra didn't start talking till _after_ that strange episode the evening before; one could have called it her birth. Suddenly the beast was fully aware, articulate, where she had likely been nothing but a chemical imbalance hours previous. The sudden formation would cause the body to reject; violently. She could only imagine the types of development that'd been triggered since having eco mixed into her system, sure that a scan of her head would reveal several abnormalities. Her theory extended beyond explaining that event, though.

Jak knew what had been happening to her. She could only assume he'd experienced the same at a different time. He certainly didn't suffer such a difficult affliction now, but he had exchanged it for something else.

The transformation.

Lyra was trying to free herself. This call from the Oracle was a direct outside stimuli, and Lyra had likely tried to chase after it... even to the point of running right out of Loor's skin. Following that idea, Lauren had a pretty damn good idea of what was coming with the Oracle.

Jak was about to gain better control of his other side... and she had the possibility of gaining transformation. It felt like a double edged sword, if she was indeed right. The transformation would be the body accepting the eco, fully integrating it into her system, and thus taking away the risk of those seizures she'd gone through. But with the power to transform, she could only imagine that Lyra would have outside awareness and struggle harder for freedom both in and out of her mind.

The two would fight, war, over control if that was the case. Lauren was dominating right now, but was because Lyra didn't know how to fight her. She felt like she was leaning up against a door with a particularly sadistic if not stupid murder on the other side. Lyra just had to figure out where that door was and what to do with it.

Okay, she wasn't totally sure about that, but Jak talked about how he couldn't control his other side. She imagined it couldn't be anything _but_ completely overpowering.

She would not be oppressed by her mind. She would control herself, no matter what.

"Loor? Earth to Loor! Baby, ground floor!"

The girl suddenly yanked from her contemplation of the situation, noting that they had arrived at their destination. Jak had entered the hut, and the door had swooped closed behind him. Daxter was standing right in front of said door, arms crossed over his fuzzy chest, looking miffed about having to wait outside.

Funny, she hadn't even noticed she'd stopped walking. She'd gone on auto-pilot to think and block Lyra at the same time.

Daxter took her attention, or at least silent recognition of him, as invitation to scurry up to her shoulder, settling and fidgeting. She opened her mouth to ask what was wrong with him, when she was suddenly hit with it so hard she felt a wave of nausea. The pit of her stomach turned cold as she felt all of her hair stand up on end, taking a similar posture as the ottsel. "What the hell...?" She questioned, quietly.

"You feel it too, eh?" Dax shook his head, the rest of his fur shivering after the fact. "Somethin' in the air ain't right. It's all tense, kinda like butterflies but worse..."

"Butterflies?" She questioned, the conversation distracting her.

"Y'know, getting' nervous right before something big happens. One person starts gettin' tense, then the next guy, and the next guy, till you can feel it just walkin' in. Butterflies in the stomach."

"Yeah, I get that..." She groused, shaking her head. "Ugh... feels like breaking a bone..."

"Reminds me more of getting my fur rubbed the wrong way."

"Well I don't got fur, so I wouldn't know that feeling." She felt her stomach churn, letting a shudder go up her spine. The call from the Oracle had strengthened along with the wrong feeling; she almost felt like the two different senses were battling for her attention.

"Ain't pleasant."

The door opened again, Jak's face nearly blank and otherwise impossible to read. Daxter hopped back to his partner, and Jak waved Loor along. "It... wants to see you."

She swallowed; this was her last chance to run. Did she want to go through with this?

The answer was obvious; she wanted to survive. If she was still at risk for those funky seizures, her chances had decreased that much.

She nodded and walked past them, entering the hut and jumping as the door slammed shut behind her. She stared at the portal for a moment, feeling trapped, before turning around to face the room ahead of her. It had a temple-like feel to it, the sweet perfume of candles saturating the air and giving the place an eerie glow. There was a rich blue rug on the floor, leading up to the precursor statue; the Oracle.

Its eyes glowed a pure blue, and she felt as if something were actually watching her. She dared to take a step closer, feeling the wooden floor creek under her. The air felt thick, and some how dizzying, from the candle's aroma. She felt as if she'd crossed into a new corner of the world where the laws of reality had just been tossed out the window.

Of course, that's how she'd felt for the past twenty four hours.

Then the statue began to talk. She knew it was supposed to, but it still froze her in her approach.

"_**You are the unplanned visitor, but you have been tied to this place by bonds that even we cannot sever. The dark taint is irreversible, and its madness will eventually be your undoing. What power we have remaining is your only salvation, but there is a price."**_

She knew why the door had shut behind her; she wanted to run very badly.

"_**If you have any hope of survival, you must trust your rage until you can control it." **_

The statue's inner glow suddenly changed purple, a sudden arc of energy striking out. She hadn't the time to scream before it hit her, and once it did... It overloaded her senses. She knew she'd curled up on herself, but she hadn't fallen to her knees. She wasn't on the floor anymore... she felt like she was going over the edge of the world, becoming unaware and burying her head in her knees.

Everything was dark, and she felt as if she'd lost her body. Formless, neither hot or cold, and floating in silence.

Her body was changing, and her own psyche sank away as one more suited emerged. She felt like she was sinking, falling through the floor, as her eyes went black, the pupil expanding to the full view. Hunter's eyes, along with claws that came from where her nails should have been, and her skin went deathly pale as her scream yielded sound. It wasn't Lauren's though; the scream wasn't human enough for that. No, this was a tortured animal screaming pain to whoever would hear as she changed for the first time. Her ears became black furred and pointed upwards, and she felt a tail from the bottom of her back, whipping about, wanting to put her feet on the ground.

Lyra had come alive for the first time.

She landed on all fours, her tail up, looking about as she realized something in her primitive mind. She was breathing. She felt an amount of energy, and bounds. Slight hunger, air, candles, heat, wood, carpet, light, blue, bronze, yellow, red, brown. She took account of all her senses, and snorted. She was alone, and trapped.

A purring growl rumbled up from her chest, standing up to two legs and wrapping her tail around her own thigh to keep it out of the way. She'd turned, looking at the door, hissing around her fangs in her inability to speak. She felt her body, the muscles, all stimulated to full power by the eco coursing through her blood.

Her fangs were showcased in a grin as she suddenly launched at the door, claws first, colliding and ripping through as if it were tissue paper. Her nose had come into play; she could smell new things on the other side of the door. Water and wood, but people as well. There was a particular smell that led her, and though it was attached to a person's scent she could still identify it quite clearly.

Eco. Her life-blood, sharp to the nose and sparking on the tongue, burning deliciously on her skin. She cleared the door, getting outside and looking around.

She screamed, and whimpered as the light hit her eyes. It was bright, rude, painful. Her eyes were not made for full brightness, the wide pupil optimizing for prowling about in the darkness. So disturbed over the light, she didn't notice she'd caused quite a disturbance by her appearance.

Jak and Daxter had jumped away when she'd first crashed through the door, Daxter letting off a short yelp as Jak had to allow a brief moment for shock. Very brief; he had to think fast. The guard was _everywhere, _and if they saw her like this...

He didn't dwell, tackling the animal while she was still fazed, right back through the broken door. His hands had gone for her thin wrists, collecting them together in one palm so that he could hold her head down with the other. The creature struggled wildly once she realized she'd been pinned, screaming and thrashing, eco arcing off of her skin in ways that would be lethal to normal people but simply made Jak grimace.

He couldn't let her up though. They had no way of escape if the alarm went up; the nearest zoomer was several bridges away, and said bridges were just bottle-necks to try and get through. Individual guards were pretty easy to deal with, but it was a bad idea to underestimate them in large groups.

Daxter had leapt off of Jak's shoulder, in case this beastly side of Loor managed to get a claw loose. He didn't want to loose any fur over this new development, and decided he'd be most useful standing at the door, keeping watch for unwanted eyes. At least, that was the idea. He had a difficult time dragging his gaze away from his partner, watching as this beastie wiggled her head to get around Jak's hand and snap for his face, making him stick a knee high on her chest to keep her down.

Then, with one last guttural howl, her struggles died. Jak hesitated before letting go, standing up, staring down.

Loor's proper skin tone and eye color had returned, the fangs and claws gone from her person. She had rolled to her side, curled up and holding her head. _"Oh fuuuuck..." _She groaned.

"Oh _great!" _Daxter groused while getting back to his partner's shoulder. "Like we needed a _Ms. _Tall Dark and Gruesome! I think Praxis has got a few screws loose to wanna do this to people..."

Jak leaned down when she said nothing to this, giving a slight push to her shoulder. "You alright?"

"_My head..." _She whined through clenched teeth, sitting up and putting her hand to the aforementioned body part. Then, once the worst of it seemed to go by her, she looked about and noted the damage done to the door, and the fact that Jak had been sitting on top of her. He was still crouched in front of her, that look on his face again. It was the same look he'd given her that morning, when she'd been having her little mental episode.

There was some fear on her face, fear that said she kinda knew, but she had to ask anyway. "What happened...?"

He got up, holding down his hand to help her. "You... I don't know what happened when you talked to the Oracle, but you changed, and..."

She had been in bad enough shape to take his help without complaint, and her grip stiffened with the rest of her body as he said this. _You changed_ was all she needed to hear. "Lyra..." A deep frown had folded into her face, looking away as she got to her feet. "I know. I get it. I just don't remember." She then dusted herself off, dismissing the whole situation by moving for the door. "Let's go. I wanna know where my sister is."

"Wow..." Dax muttered. "She got over that faster than you did. No death threats to Praxis or nothin'."

Jak didn't comment on this fact, but nodded. It was almost as if she knew it was going to happen.

**

* * *

**

"Imoto-chan!"

Loor had shouted her greeting to her little sister, happy to have caught her. Jak had gotten through to Torn to find out Fury had been sent to rescue Vin from the strip mine. Of course Loor knew if they didn't show up fast enough Vin would sent her out on some other errand before they could catch up, that and the excuse to walk faster saved her from talking on the way over. It was clear that something about how she'd reacted to what happened with the Oracle had struck the boys as wrong. Maybe they expected her to hold on to the shock of it for longer, but she'd known it was coming.

Since Lyra had started talking, she had known it was coming. Her initial shock was mostly over with since what happened that morning. All that was left was the horror and fear of what could possibly come of the new development, and those were private feelings.

And rage. She wasn't sure how much was directed at herself and how much was aimed at the Krimson Guard, but it sat in her brain like a heated barb, distracting her from thinking clearly. Eco had catalyzed the very thing she'd been most afraid of for years of her life, and though she wasn't quite sure who to blame yet she most definitely wanted to pound someone's face in over it.

But those emotions were saved for later. Now she had arrived with Jak and Daxter at the power station, found her sister, and swept her up into a bone-crushing hug, not caring that she'd made Vin jump with her boisterous salutation.

"Onee-san!" Fury returned, though it was muffled as her sister squeezed her. She waited till Lauren let her go before speaking any further. "How's it going?"

"Alright." She smiled as the boys entered behind her, Daxter jumping down and looking about at all the computer stuff. "Can't say I liked my first taste of action, but it wasn't terrible neither."

"Tell me about it." She leaned around to look at Jak. "That gun course is _nothing_ compared to the real thing, dude! They need to make the targets like eight time smaller for those little fuckers."

"You wanna tell Krew his shooting range needs fixing?" Jak asked as Fury leaned down to pet Daxter. The ottsel didn't complain.

"Ick... I wanted to shoot him when he offered us 'ladies' a job." She got up as the ottsel returned to his usual shoulder. "I'd prefer to avoid him at all costs, thank you very much."

"Can we get a move on here?" Vin asked, finally calling attention to himself. Loor glanced at him, then did a double take. She had expected Vin, somewhat short, techy-looking Vin. What she hadn't expected was all the stress wrinkles on his face. His animated self was much smoother skinned. "Someone has to take out those eggs if the shield wall even has a chance of staying up!"

"Oh, right!" Fury gave herself a light bonk to the head. "Loor, Jak, Daxter, this is Vin. Vin, my sister Loor, and a couple of the most kick-ass underground members you'll ever meet." She was grinning as Daxter preened at the latter comment, Jak just rolling his eyes. "Vin says we might have an infestation of metal head eggs on the drill platform... he wants me to go take care of it."

"You want help?" Loor asked.

"I'll take it if I can get it, but I thought you and Vin needed to..." Fury cleared her throat. "Y'know, _talk?" _

The elder sister nodded, about to ask the boys for their assistance when Jak's comm. unit went off. The person calling didn't wait for him to answer, simply talking once the connection was made.

That was somewhat expected; knowing Krew.

She winced, disregarding the conversation while wondering why. Jak and Daxter were the ones who did this shit originally, so why was another mission coming down the pike when stuff they usually did wasn't done?

She realized it with a short shock. She'd slowed them down. What happened with Sig shouldn't have taken nearly as long as it did because they were looking after her.

And now the boys were getting called off somewhere else while they picked up the slack.

Jak gave a shrug once the fat ass was done talking. "Looks like we're busy. See you two back at the underground, alright?"

"Right-o..." Loor sighed, watching them leave before looking back to Fury. "What do you wanna do?"

Fury gave a bright grin of confidence. "I can handle it. You talk to Vin, I'll go blow up some eggs, and we'll chill back at the underground and compare notes or something."

Lauren had to roll her eyes at her sister, ruffling her hair. "Just don't go getting yourself killed."

"Don't jinx me!" The younger replied, turning for the warp gate at the other end of the room. Loor watched her go, blinking as she vanished through the seemingly empty ring. She hadn't seen warp gates yet that day, and like the green eco it bent her brain in new directions. She suddenly wanted to take it apart and find out how it worked. What new wonders were possible with eco?

She had to shake her head to get her mind off the subject. That's not what she was here for. "So... Vin, you got surveillance on this place?"

"Mmm?" Vin glanced up at Loor, still working away on something on one of the many terminals in the room. "Of course. Nothing gets through _my _security. I installed that double reinforced door myself... I don't think it would stand up to a full assault, but if a handful of metal heads managed to get the warp ring to work, I could lock them in here and initiate a sterilization code from the out-"

"Fascinating." She cut him off. She was serious, it _was _fascinating, but she didn't have time to get wrapped up. "Listen, I..." She paused, sighing. "I need you to shut it off for a little while. I don't know if Fury told you how she and I ended up here in Haven, but I'd like to explain it to you... off the record."

The older tech head finally stopped working, looking a tad more nervous than usual with how intense she was being. "...why?"

"It was all a big stupid accident." She held out her empty hands. "We need your help to get home. Please, I can't let others get ahold of this information."

Vin ran a hand through the white tuft of hair that stuck up from under his goggles, frowning before turning to another terminal and putting in some sort of code. The door clicked when he finished, and she could hear something in the room powering down.

"You got half an hour." He said while facing her. "Talk to me."

* * *

**The Author's Corner**

Well that's a bit cleaner. Not massively better, but at least a bit more concise.

I hope you enjoyed Fury while you had her. She lasted twice as long in this version... haha that was terrible. I'm so mean.

I has chocolate for the up and coming scene... for those who have followed my writing for a while, you understand the dangers of me and chocolate. If you don't know, feel free to PM and ask.

MEOW!

-Loor


	11. Lost

**CLEANED UP**

**Clean up notes for this chapter: **Well here we are on chapter 11, and we're finally getting through the content of chapter five and starting in on six. At this rate I question just how many chapters this fic is gonna end up at. I'll take bets, really, I will. I feel the scene was done better this time anyway; it doesn't feel quite so cliched and corny... That and I recently had a small experience with the shock of death, so I know the feelings I experience a little better.

**Extra Note: **I am so sorry it took like two weeks to get this done... but on the upside my second book of my original story is almost done! How sweet is that? I think pretty damn sweet. XP

**DISCLAIMER: Don't own it people. Sorries. **

**Vacation Or War  
****Chapter Eleven-Lost**

"... the part that bends my brain is the fact that the device was only made to convert energy, nothing else. I don't understand how in the world I ended up here... I was hoping you could shed some light on how this happened, and how the hell Fury and I are going to get home. Recreating and reversing the system doesn't make any sense... I'm almost completely positive that something else had to complicate the VC-M1 to make it do what it did."

Lauren paused, looking at Vin and feeling her hands shake. He hadn't said a word since she'd started explaining everything, from top to bottom. She left nothing out, going into detail about gaming systems and the fact that Jak, Haven, and the war with the metal heads was but a fantasy to people at home. He just stared, his eyebrows raised over the goggles he wore, doubling as glasses. She'd explained the technology and theory behind the VC-M1, the fact that it had produced eco, and waking up in the fortress after the whole catastrophe.

She wouldn't blame him if he didn't believe her. She could hardly believe herself.

"You said you couldn't get the device to work until you ran it with Fury?" Vin asked, making her feel even more nervous. Questions were something that often sent Loor to being either defensive or angry. She tried to keep her mood even while nodding.

"The previous tests were unsuccessful... I'm guessing something in the air fixed the failure. It would take continued testing on the device to see exactly what."

He nodded again, crossing his arms over his chest. The stress lines in his face were creased together as his brow knit down. "You're right. There is no way your original device could have brought you here. Something else must have happened. Do you think someone could have tampered with it?"

Loor snorted. "Damian was the only one with the technological know-how. He got me my raw materials, cheap, but he didn't have access to the device. The VC-M1 was my baby, my pet project." She followed with a shake of her head. "No, the key to this has to be the eco. Something in my world must have reacted to it... the fact that you guys have teleporter rings and zoomers are a simple testament to the fact that eco acts differently than electrical power."

"You mentioned that electrical power has to be produced by factories to make enough energy for cities. How is that done?"

"Various ways." She shrugged. "You find the most efficient way to spin a turbine, basically. Usually burning some kind of fuel to create steam from water; coal and other fossil fuels were popular when people first started making their own electricity, but..." She shrugged. "There's all sorts of talk of some sort of power crisis when we use up all those fuels. Nuclear power is an idea, but waste is a problem... there are some clean alternatives, but they depend either on weather events or the presence of running water." She paused before going to correct herself, remembering geothermal worked in some places too, but Vin cut her off.

"Sounds like ancient history." He shook his head.

"Eh?" She was left to blink at him, confused.

"There's been speculation that there was a time on this planet before eco, but it's really more stories than actual history. Supposedly there was some sort of war, the bombs started flying, and the precursors showed up to clean up the mess after we all blew each other up. They say that the precursors brought eco with them when they showed up, but I really doubt it. The planet produces eco in all forms on its own; why would the precursors have to bring it here?" He waved his hands. "Never mind that, we need to figure this mess out... Do you think you could build a working replica for me to study? Like you said, eco likely works quite differently from your type of power. The device itself could be half the puzzle."

She thought for a moment, nodding slightly. She was sure something else had to be complicating the situation, some other device she wasn't aware of, but Vin made a good point. Eco in the VC-M1's workings could do some things very differently than electricity. For all she knew, she'd created a small teleporter. "I'll need some supplies... and I don't know if I'll have the time to put it together. Torn is sure to have me running all over the place, being part of the underground."

"The Shadow has me monitoring the shield wall at all times. I can multitask."

She gave him a look, and then a smirk. "I'm sure you can, but you'll probably try to 'improve' my design while you build it."

"So be really specific." Vin took her over to a screen and introduced her to a keyboard. "Make a list of materials, write up what I need to know, and I'll do the rest."

Loor wanted to growl, protective of who knew as much as she did about the VC-M1. Still, her rampant need to get home overpowered her pride in her work, and she set to acquainting herself with the precursor-script keyboard before typing up what she needed. She just hoped the basic elements were still the same over here; if Vin couldn't get ahold of something as simple as copper wire and a magnet in order to produce electricity to run the VC-M1 with, she was totally screwed.

She likely took another half hour typing away at the exact assembly procedure, and after some debate the instructions on how to run it.

"Well, it certainly doesn't read like a teleporter module."

Loor yelped and whipped around to find Vin had been reading over her shoulder. He had jumped as well, startled by her yelling and putting his hands up. "Yea! Easy there..." He managed, slowly approaching once more.

"Sorry..." She shook her head. "I get really adsorbed. Plus this isn't my native script, so I gotta make sure I'm not making any dumb spelling mistakes..."

He nodded, scanning her operations guide. "You almost done?"

"Just about. Why?" She turned back to typing, though it was unnerving with someone over her shoulder. Now that she knew he was there she was making extra sure that she was hitting the right keys on the keyboard, hating to look like she didn't know what she was doing.

"Your friend has been gone a long time... you might wanna go check on her."

Loor suddenly stopped typing. She blinked, feeling a hot flash of fear run through her person. She remembered the last thing she'd said to Fury.

_Don't go getting yourself killed._

"Is the warp gate programmed for the drill platform?"

"Yes, I left it open so-"

Loor darted away, up to sprinting speed as she made a leap through the gate on the other end of the room, suddenly frantic.

There was no point in her machines, or research, or anything else if something happened to her sister.

She shouldn't have stayed. She shouldn't have. She cursed herself now, landing on the other side of the warp gate without remembering the sensation. She didn't take in the drill platform at all, but to register what was good to run on. Her vision was nothing but a gray tunnel of metal flooring.

She could feel it, taste the tang of eco on the back of her tongue. It made her draw her weapon off of her back, skidding to a stop when she reached a dead end. Desperately she glanced around before noting the elevator off to her right, going to stand on it and bouncing nervously as she ascended. She wanted to yell, but wouldn't spear the breath.

A moment later, it wouldn't matter.

A moment later, she would scream. She arrived on a platform that had a large gun turret at the corner. She only noticed it because collapsed next to it... was Fury. She was surrounded by the bodies of small metal heads with blades that would usually be spinning about their bodies like buzz saws from hell, but now they lay motionless.

But so did Fury, her legs a bloody mess. The appendages didn't even resemble the body parts they were supposed to be, a torn and twisted mess of flesh and bone. The blood didn't help, a deep purple color that blossomed over her clothes and puddled on the ground.

Loor dove onto the platform before the elevator was all the way up, kneeling by her sister and almost afraid to touch her. Her upper body was fine, guns in both hands, but her arms thrown over her head as she lay on her side. "Chelsea!" Loor shouted, though she wouldn't cognitively remember it. She was just making noise, staring at something her brain couldn't compute.

Then, slowly, the arm over her face bent and moved out of the way. The gun dropped, and she reached out.

"Lauren..." The girl managed a smile that was ruined by the fact that her hand was shaking violently. Loor took the hand quickly, moving to get her legs under Fury's head and look down at her. Further fear struck like lighting when she felt the fact that Fury was hardly warm; her hand was actually somewhat cool to the touch, and the rest of her body wasn't much better. Another look at her paler than usual complexion said one thing; massive blood loss.

She was crying, holding the hand to her lips, shaking her head. "Oh God... oh my God... please no..."

Chelsea's jade eyes managed to glance from left to right, that smile still in place. Despite her condition, she seemed quite peaceful. Calm. "They snuck up on me... I got cocky." She paused, mainly cause the few words took her breath away. She had to gasp a few moments while laying her head back. "I was afraid... it would all end alone."

The gravity of the situation hit Loor like a ton of bricks. Fury was not just mortally wounded, she was dying. And she knew it. She didn't scream or fight the fact, beg for help or otherwise. She was already comfortably numb, in some form of shock that protected her from the worst of her predicament. She had accepted what was to come, and faced it bravely.

Loor, on the other hand, shook her head violently. "No!" She made a move to get up. "You need help!"

Despite her condition, Fury didn't let go. Her other hand lost its gun so both could take hold of Loor's arms, keeping her from getting up and running away. She didn't say anything at first, just shaking her head no. "... look at this mess... I screwed up again... didn't I?"

Loor looked down, noticing that she was having a tough time keeping her eyes focused. Realizing just how short a time was left, she pulled Fury closer and blinked a few tears away. "No... you didn't screw up... I left you alone... I should have come with..."

That smile widened as Fury snorted a chuckle. "That's so like you... blaming yourself for everything... hang on for me."

"What?" Lauren wasn't ready for a last request. She started denying again, sniffing. "Chelsea, no... you... I... please, let me go get help..."

Her hands had stiffened. Loor imagined this is what people meant by a death grip; the desperate hold of someone on the edge. "Don't think about that... don't think about home... you always... have such a one track mind... I need you to promise to hang on for me... if you find home here, hang on to it... don't let go... and don't run away..." The girl coughed, wheezing. All the strength that could have possibly helped her to hold out was being used, just to convey these final wishes. As her jade eyes kept losing focus, she closed them, looking like she felt quite safe and secure in Loor's lap.

But that's what broke Lauren's heart. She had promised she would fix everything. Promised she would get them home, safe and sound, and clean up this whole mess. It was all her fault, and so was this. She hadn't worked hard enough, or fast enough.

Or she's simply made the mistake of creating that device in the first place.

"I know..." Fury gasped, coughing again.

Loor squeezed her, breathing deeply, as if it would help her take a deeper breath.

"... You'll do right... you always do things right..."

Lauren crumpled over her friend to hug her tightly, sobbing in the process. Still, sniveling through the tears, she nodded. "I promise... I'll hang on, not matter what."

The grip on her arms relaxed as she said this. She sat up quickly, staring down and having the horror run through her. "Chelsea?" She asked, shaking her like she would to wake her on days they slept over at each other's houses, but this gesture bore no response. "... Chelsea...?" Her tears worsened, the truth choking her. "No..." The protest was a harsh squeak of her throat, shaking her head while bending over the body once more. "Not you..." She gasped. "It wasn't... it's... not your fault... not your fault..."

Her denial did nothing. She could feel the body growing colder, and it made the final note of tragedy.

Chelsea was gone. A human being, her _friend,_ no longer existed. Hopes, dreams, plans, all vanishing in a moment. Lauren first failed to comprehend it, as it was an event she was completely powerless to influence. Such was a horrifying experience, as she was a person almost always in complete control. She wanted to get angry, to rage and lash out, but there was no difference to be made with such action.

She had no power over this.

Slowly, after countless tears shed into Chelsea's shirt, Lauren lifted her body and turned back to return to the power station.

She did promise; she would hang on. For Chelsea, she would survive this hostile reality. She'd throw everything she had at it.

She'd hang on.

* * *

Vin looked when the teleport gate briefly activated to drop new arrivals into the power station, his quick glance turning to a double-take with a terror-filled scream. He had first seen Loor, but then he saw her burden.

And the bloody stumps that used to be Chelsea's legs.

"Is she...?" He squeaked out.

Loor slowly nodded, as if the words took a few moments to get into her skull and settle properly. "Yeah..."

"I'll call Torn." Vin offered, turning to the comm. station and averting his eyes from the sight. He knew that Loor had let herself down to the floor, and was sobbing quietly, the occasional racking and wet breath getting sucked in. He felt terrible for her on several levels. The two were close friends, close enough to call each other sisters, and they were also new underground operatives.

But they were also trying to get home. Now Fury was dead, and Loor left alone. How would she explain her sister's absence if she ever made it back? Vin didn't ask these questions, activating the communications board and getting in contact with Torn.

"_Yeah Vin?" _The man's rough voice came through loud and clear.

"We've got a man down over here. Chelsea... We need to take care of the body."

Loor hiccuped in the background.

"_On my way." _Torn answered without hesitation, the line going. Vin nervously paced after that, afraid to engage Loor in any sort of interaction. She was leaned up against the railing by the warp gate, gently rocking and humming to the body. She may have been a mother, cradling a sick child, but the truth of the matter was far more heart breaking.

Torn arrived fairly quickly. Notified of his arrival, Loor began moving without a word. Torn had brought an interesting zoomer with a flatbed behind the driver's seat for hauling cargo, and a blanket to cover the body out of respect. Loor personally wrapped it up, not allowing the corpse to leave her hands. On the way over she was informed the body would be cremated, since burying it would require putting it outside the city where scavenger metal heads were likely to dig it up anyway. He wasn't sure if Loor had adsorbed any of that information, as she was still absently humming a strange lullaby.

Returning to the underground, Torn landed and came around to find Loor staring off. Her face was streaked with tears, but the waterworks had stopped for the moment. Her hands no longer gripped the body so fiercely, just firm enough to keep it from sliding around as they drove back through the city.

"Loor?" Torn tried to get her attention, and the only indication he gained was a small shift of her eyes, but her gaze went straight through him. She might as well been the person who bled to death. "I need to prepare the body. Please give it here."

She blinked a few times. A look flashed through her eyes, as if she wanted to protect the corpse on some primal urge, but that was beaten down by the reality of the situation.

Slowly, numbly, she gave the corpse over into Torn's waiting arms.

"It'll be a while..." He said, almost gently. "Go... y'know, breathe."

She slipped out of the vehicle, unsure of her footing once she stood on the ground. She felt the urge to follow Torn as he walked off, but she knew that he was likely going to strip the body and soak it in some sort of accelerent to prepare for burning. She wouldn't be able to watch that. Instead, she turned out to the city and started walking. The air smelled bad, but the simple act of putting one foot in front of the other made her come back to earth. She gave herself a quick check-over, making sure she still had her weapon since she remembered taking it out but not putting it away. Indeed, it was hooked to her back once more.

She looked at her hands again, and found them covered in blood. That made her detach again, the purple hues having faded to reveal red.

She'd leached the eco from it. Just like metal head blood; she'd taken the eco into her own system. The thought made her quite sick, and she started seeking one of the many leaking pipes in the slums to wash her hands. Thankfully it didn't take long, and she was able to scrub away the residue before continuing on her way.

She'd made it to one of the ditches in the slums, walking over a bridge over such and stopping in the middle. Without considering why she stopped, sat on the edge, and stayed there to swing her feet over the side. When she looked over the side she could see the long shadows cast by the sun going down; it was nearly evening. Her second day in Haven was ending.

_With a funeral._ That thought burnt her, made her rage again. She wanted to rip something apart. Her hands gripped the planks of the bridge, her jaw muscles working as her green and purple eyes lost focus.

She wanted to give in to the rage. It would be so easy to be angry, to snap into a state where who she attacked no longer mattered, simply that she did. For a brief moment she felt like she was a creature more incredible, with fangs and talons and the ravenous will to use them. Her imagination had brought her such images before, but not with such clarity. She actually licked her teeth to make sure the image was not a reality.

Thankfully she was still herself, and she realized the image was born not of her desperate rage, but of Lyra. The beast she now lived with.

"No, seriously, I'm telling you I saw a guy drive a zoomer right into a guard, jumped off right before the thing crashed, and the alarm didn't go up! C'mon, I dare ya to try it!"

Loor blinked as she heard Daxter's voice off to her left, looking and standing up as she saw the duo moving her way. They must have been heading back to the underground... which was now being used to prepare a dead body. She figured it was only respectful to head them off.

Jak was shaking his head at his partner when Daxter noticed her. "Hey, Loor, babe!" He greeted, grinning like an idiot. "You'd be up to a bit of fun at the KG's expense, wouldn't ya?"

Loor wasn't sure how to react. She felt so serious, so lost, that Daxter's humor was something she simply shrugged off. She shook her head no, without saying a word.

Jak picked up the vibe. "What happened?" He asked quickly. He then noted something else. "... where's Chelsea?"

Loor blinked, not wanting to talk. She could prevent herself from crying as long as she didn't speak, and she didn't want to cry in front of Jak. She blinked and looked down, letting her black hair fall forward and curtain her face. "She..."

She took a deep breath while swallowing back tears.

"She's dead."

* * *

**The Author's Corner**

Ah, the scene that got sporks thrown at me when this fic was first published oh so many years ago. But I can't say I regret it at all, since Fury's death allows for a whole 'nother story that I did have much fun with. I apologise to Fury herself, though. I LOVE YOU IMOTO-CHAN!

Till next time...

**-Loor**


	12. Night Walks With Friends

**CLEANED UP**

**Clean-up notes for this chapter: **Wow, we fit all the content of a single chapter into another single chapter. YAY FOR THE ONE TO ONE RATIO!

Some changes to dialog, some changes to narrative, most main events left alone. MEOW!

**I do not own Jak and Daxter. I am not making money off of this work of fiction. The characters Loor and Lyra are a product of my own imagination, and DO belong to me. Fury is respective to her own creator and owner. How many times and in how many ways do I have to say this? I hate just having the same disclaimer in every chapter... but I'm afraid someone will fry my ass if I forget to post it. **

**Vacation or War  
****Chapter Twelve-Night Walks With Friends**

Loor had excused herself almost instantly once she delivered the news to the trouble twins, wanting to avoid human contact until she had a sure grip on her emotions. It wasn't like her to go to pieces like this... of course, she'd never seen a person die before. Much less one of her closest friends. She didn't have anyone to turn to, nor anyone to confide in that she trusted. She went back to the underground ahead of the boys, thinking she might just find a place to stand and space out for a bit outside.

She wished she was home. Back there she had her ultimate escape; climbing up on the roof. It was something she did often when she wanted to get away from others, more and more as she dipped into the emotional roller-coaster ride of puberty. Her parents didn't disturb her up there, though they also didn't approve of her going up there. They usually didn't know, since she used things laying around the yard to get up from a low point of the roof in the back yard.

Returning to the hideout, she noted the zoomer on the corner. She blinked at it, and then glanced to the building the hideout was practically built beneath. She didn't question the idea as it passed her mind, getting the zoomer and driving it over, switching into the high zone and making the jump from there, able to scramble up to the pitched roofing without doing much damage to herself aside from a little pain on her hands. Once up she was able to back off from the eve and lay back, ensuring she wouldn't be seen from the ground. Unless someone figured out her trick with the zoomer, no one would come to bother her.

She finally relaxed, allowing herself to think about exactly what happened.

Chelsea had been killed by metal heads. The thought passed as a simple fact, but the emotions that circled that fact pulled something else into focus; once Loor found her way home... Fury wouldn't be with her. She wanted to wonder how she was going to explain that, but such selfish thoughts were blotted out by something else.

_**You think you killed her.**_

Loor flinched as Lyra's voice came into her conscious world. She wanted to deny it, but didn't bother. The animal was right. _I'm responsible... I brought us here... I didn't get us out of here fast enough... it's my fault._

She perceived the animal giggling at her, a sound that made her shudder. _**If it's your fault... you might as well have torn her apart yourself. You **_**murdered **_**her. **_

_I... did not. _She shook her head. _Her death is on my shoulders, but not on my hands... I didn't personally do it... and our coming here was an accident. _

_**Accident or not, you led her here. You let her go alone. She died while you were safe.**_

_Trying to find a way home! _She defended, screaming in her head. The floodgates had opened once more, tears falling down her face as she became more mentally involved. _I didn't know it was going to happen! I didn't kill her! _

_**Tears of fear and doubt, you don't even believe yourself. **_

_I didn't-_

_**MURDERER!**_

She suddenly sat up fast, bellowing as if she had just fought her way up from a tremendous weight, slamming her hands down on the roofing. "I DIDN'T KILL HER!" She proclaimed it both to herself and the monster in her head, coming to hug her shoulders, rocking and sobbing. "I didn't... I... it wasn't... it was all an accident... a terrible accident..."

_**Whatever helps you sleep at night... Loor.**_

The beast purred over the 'r', but left her be after that final sweet note. It was enough that she had installed such doubt in Loor's thoughts, making her question every event that had happened since the VC-M1 had somehow gotten them here.

Had she killed Chelsea? Was it enough of her fault to splash the blood on her hands?

Was she truly at fault for ending a life?

* * *

Loor had only come down from the roof once the body was already burning. She had watched from afar, as they got the original fire going in the dead end alley, seeing that the corpse was wrapped in a thing blanket and covered with something highly flammable. Even then the sight was something far too terrible for her to stomach, and she didn't dare climb back down to ground level till the body was no longer recognizable.

When she did come down, it was quietly. She was an exceptional climber with her affection for lofty perches, able to jump from a safe distance and adsorb most of the shock by bending her knees and putting her hands on the ground, also keeping her elbows soft. Distributing her weight, like so, had allowed her to jump from as high as twelve feet and avoid harm. There'd been accidents in learning the technique, but such accidents made doing it the right way second nature to her.

Once she was down on the ground, she turned to approach the funeral pyre, nudging her way through the guys, since Torn, Jak, and Daxter were all present, to stand close as she dared. The body was hardly a shadow in the flames, somewhat human shaped.

The one life Loor couldn't save.

She suddenly felt the gaze of the others. As the person who knew Chelsea, she imagined she was expected to say something. Sadly, she had nothing appropriate that she could say in front of the others, not without hinting their younger and softer existence. She ignored the sensation, the pressure, and focused on the body. If she had one last thing she could say _to_ her dear friend, what would it be?

She sighed, sucking in a brave breath. "Good luck Chelsea... I donno if it's going to get better from here... but I promised. Sisters keep their promises... always."

She blinked, a globe of water breaking away from her lashes and sliding down her cheek. Behind her, Torn bent his head in respect. Jak, on the other hand, made the effort to approach Loor.

Now, all of the people who knew Lauren were aware that if she was in a state like this, emotionally unstable, as it were, they stay the hell away. She avoided human contact because she came to completely discard control in any sense of the word. Put simply, she was... prone to exploding.

And said exploding possibility happened when Jak walked up slowly, and said, all to innocently: "It's okay."

Lauren's eyes flashed. If the words she needed to hear had come out of anyone's mouth, she would have been surprised, but 'It's okay' was the last thing she needed to hear. She had spent her time on the roof thinking about how _not_ okay it was. She growled, and turned quickly, putting all of her anger into one clenched fist, and bringing that fist across to Jak's face. Jak had moved slightly so she only clipped him, but it still stung. He stared at her as she stormed off, and she paused a moment to turn back at him, seething. "Jakkie boy, don't go telling _me_ it's okay. Try telling _her." _With that, she took off running, turning the nearest corner to be alone again.

Jak stood, blinking in what seemed to be shocked. Apparently chicks didn't try to deck him often. Daxter, on the other hand, was quick to bring his buddy back to Earth. "Uh... Jakkie-boy? A girl just tried to punch you and you're not doing anything!"

He shook his head. "She's liable to get into a fight, wandering around alone with an attitude like that."

"Hey, if you hadn't dodged that wild swing your head would be on the other side of the alley, brother." Dax clearly felt her attitude wasn't going to get her in that much trouble, since it seemed she had some of the goods to back it up with.

"She shouldn't be by herself..." He sighed, giving a look to Dax. "You coming with?"

"And let her take a shot at _me_?" Daxter snorted, jumping down to excuse himself. "No-thank-you!"

Jak smirked at his friend. "Don't wait up for me." He said before following the path Loor had taken out of the dead-end alleyway. At first he figured it was going to be a bitch to find her, but she hadn't gone far. In the dimming twilight he could see she'd gone a few buildings over and hidden in a crevice made between two, where their walls were crumbling and pipes had been ripped out for whatever reason. She sat on the ground in this little hole, head hung and clinging to her knees.

He approached, a bit more carefully this time, gauging her reach and crouching down just outside it. "Hey."

Her head jumped as her body flinched back, having not seen or sensed him coming. Her eyes were hardly visible behind the curtain of black hair that fell over her brow, but what little he could detect said she was glaring. "What, dark boy?" She spat. "Didn't have enough?"

He frowned, not jumping at the insult. "You grazed me," He said before allowing a smirk, "but if that hit had actually connected you might have done some damage."

A low, feral growl came from her point in the shadows, sinking deeper into them as she attempted to squeeze her whole body into the small space. "What the hell do you want? Did Torn send you to drag me back? I don't care."

"No." He answered, wondering how long it would take before she cut herself on some damaged piping or otherwise in that little crevice. "It's not exactly _safe_ in Haven city. A lot of weird people wander around at night."

She froze, and he sensed her looking at him again, though her eyes were hidden by the darkness. "Weird people like you?" She asked, her tone half joking.

He offered a chuckle, rolling his eyes. "Yeah, sure, people like me. Come out of there before you hurt yourself."

"What the fuck do you care what I do to myself?" She asked, what little humor she'd gained draining away in rebellion against an order.

"I don't." He answered bluntly. "But Torn can't afford to cut you any slack, and if Dax and I end up with you as a partner I'd rather not have to bring _you_ back in a body bag cause you weren't at the top of your game."

She was surprised by how straightforward he was being, but finally came out and stood up, brushing her clothes off. "Whatever. I'm still walking around for a bit."

"You shouldn't be out here alone." He insisted.

She gave him a look before turning down the dirty street to walk. "I can take care of myself." She said haughtily, irritated he had come after her at all. She had _always_ taken care of herself, to a fault she realized. Still, it felt wrong for her to back down for any reason, even strange surroundings or common sense. She wanted to be alone with her grief, and the rage and doubt that spawned from it.

She stopped when she heard him take a few steps after her, turning her head to look at him over her shoulder. There was a tense silence, and she finally sighed. "Fine." She started walking again, looking forward. "You think I shouldn't be alone? Come with me."

"Where are you going?" He asked while taking her up on the offer, trotting to catch up.

"No where. Where should I be going?" Her voice was dangerous; questions she found unnecessary were a great way to get her to explode again.

He simply shrugged, not feeding her rising passion. Such a passive move made her breathe a little, taking a big inhale and letting it out, feeling cleaner for it.

"Sorry... I just like to walk around aimlessly when I'm upset. Or go someplace up high... though usually I'm alone. It gives me time to think about stuff." She paused, wanting to say she had a lot to think about, but she tried to curb her chatterbox nature. When she wasn't sure what to do in a situation with another person, she would rattle on endlessly. It was her own strange nervous reaction, and she did her best to pin it down by biting her lip.

"You mentioned you're from someplace else... that doesn't have all this shit going on. I guess nothing like this has ever happened to you."

She nodded to agree, frowning. "I only know one person who's died, and I'd only seen her a few times before she was gone. Old age, so... it was time. But Fury..." She shook her head, feeling the lump again with the reminder of just how much had been destroyed. "She had so much she still wanted to do..."

Jak didn't say anything when he heard her voice choking up, backing off and just nodding sadly. The two walked in silence, and Loor forced her mind to other things as not to wallow in such painful emotions. To do so felt like having her skin ripped off and then bathing in hydrogen peroxide. Instead she turned her gaze skyward, seeking stars. She got them, but the display she witnessed dazzled her. At home she was used to silver stars that peppered the sky in beautiful mist, but the stars here were a glorious rainbow of color, gems of vivid red, blue, magenta, and gold strewn across a black velvet blanket. Such a tapestry had her in awe, forgetting herself to smile.

In this display was also the moon, which was the only thing that looked familiar. That made her smile grow, as the moon was yet another object she favored in study.

Jak seemed to notice her glee at the night sky, looking up as well. He didn't see anything new or special, but perhaps the cosmic painting brought her some solace and allowed her to disconnect.

"These are my friends..." She said absently, not particularly to him. "When I'm at my worst... my darkest days, the moon and stars have walked so many nights with me. Even when I can't see them, be it clouds or city lights... I know they're there. I breathe the night air, and I always find some right with the world." She giggled softly, letting herself come down from browsing the glitter. "Night walks with friends, hm?"

He looked at her, seeing the analogy she drew; she referred to Night as herself. He also found some issue in it. "It's a little difficult to resolve anything when your friends can't talk to you."

The smile left her, as did her comfort. "They are not there to resolve... they are there to distract. I do have some people I walk with from time to time, but most of the time they are the reasons I'm upset... usually because I can't help them. Or they won't let me."

"Little bit of a savior complex there?" He prodded.

"Like you're one to talk." She snorted, looking at him out of the corner of her eye. Of course she saw as he was taken slightly aback, realizing her slip of the tongue and quickly patching it up while keeping her tone and posture. "You chased me out here, didn't you?"

"Hey, if you handle thugs like you handle metal heads, you _needed_ an escort." He shot back, holding his hands up in defense. "And what if Errol had decided to be wandering the streets tonight? You may have shot him, but you keep insisting that was a lucky break."

Errol's name evoked some very bad magic, making her snarl. "I would have ripped his head off with my bear hands... he deserves that, now more than ever."

"Easy..." Jak cautioned. He forgot just how touchy she was. "Just making an example, that's all."

Again, his anti-aggressive voice made her calm down. She looked at him, stepping down from her brisk and long strides. This whole time, she'd been making an effort to stay in front of him. Now, settling into an easier gait, she walked next to him. "Yeah... don't change how... mad doesn't seem to be the right word... fucking insane might be better... hate works too... ah whatever, forget the vernacular, I want the fucker dead. Him and Praxis... and anyone else involved with what happened to Fury and I."

"I know the feeling. Daxter and I are after Praxis; we just need to find a way to get close to him. If we can get up to the palace, I think I might be able to get a shot at him."

She nodded, tempted to suggest asking Vin about the support towers, but deciding against it. Spoilers were mean. "You two wouldn't mind me tagging along till I found a way home, would you? I'll help if I can... but I just want a chance to get a whack at him."

"I'm alright with it, and Daxter won't mind. He liked your sister better than he likes you, but I think you got filed as eye candy anyway. The top doesn't help."

She glanced down at the midriff she was wearing, crossing her arms over her chest and balking. "Well it's not my fault! This is what the lady had that would fit me on short notice..." She squeezed herself, looking down at her breasts. She hated them when they were Bs, and she was hating them even more now as Ds.

"I wasn't complaining." He snickered. "Just sayin'."

She grumbled something, turning her gaze back to the stars to banish her annoyance. He didn't follow her gaze up, but instead remembered her earlier comment.

"Why do you insist on being alone?" He asked.

"It..." She sighed. "It's just the way I work. I've never done well with people... and Fury... well she was really more of a patient than a friend. I was trying to help her be herself, more self confident. She'd been doing really well this past day... she must have gotten a major reality check in the fortress. I always see myself alone... I don't let people get close. Bad things happen."

He sensed a story in that. "Bad things like what?"

She stopped walking, looking at him before smirking softly. "That's my business. But let me just say I may have saved Chelsea from herself a few times... but I still owe her for the one time she saved me."

* * *

Jak and Loor arrived back at the underground hideout somewhere around midnight. Loor collapsed on her bed almost at once, laying face down in her pillow for several moments before rolling over and putting the work into taking her boots off. Once through with that she shed the rest of her things, stuffing all but her pants under the bed and flattening to her bed. Despite how full her head was, she was dead tired and ready to crash. The wheels in her head wanted to be spinning, but there wasn't any fuel left for the process.

Not with all the tears gunking up the gears. Maybe that's why people slept well when they'd been crying.

Her ears noted Jak removing his own effects in preparation for bed, but she then sat up quickly while realizing something; Torn and Dax were missing. That was a strange combination of people to be gone, and she imagined such things ending with a skun ottsel. Jak seemed to notice the absence as well, but shrugged it off.

She laid back again. If he wasn't worried, she wasn't either. She let her brain go for the evening, turned into her pillow, and began to drift off as she felt the bunks shake, Jak climbing up to his bed.

She then heard the door open. She clung to consciousness for a few more moments out of curiosity, though she made it look as if she were already gone. Eyes closed and body lax, she only clung on to the living world in order to listen.

She heard Daxter's odd bipedal steps on feet that were meant for a quadruped creature, and heavy steps that had to be Torn. She felt Jak's weight shift and heard him grunting slightly. There was a moment of silence, and then Daxter had to go and break it. "Is she uh… safe?" The ottsel asked shiftily, as if Lauren had hit him instead of Jak.

Jak moved again and Lauren fought to keep the look of someone deep at rest on her face. "She looks asleep right now. Torn, what is that stuff?"

A pause.

"It's Chelsea's stuff. One of her guns is jammed, and the other is out of ammo. I sent the cloths back to Teek."

Lauren went stiff.

"What is her scarf wrapped around?" Jak's voice inquired.

There was a sound of the silky marital shifting about something, and Daxter sighed.

"It's her ashes." The ottsel stated, sounding sad for the first time that Lauren remembered.

Loor heard the thud of what had to be Torn setting the ashes next to her bed, and the two smaller thuds of the guns getting placed next to it. Tears threatened to break through her facade of sleep, but she didn't allow them to fruit. Instead she listened as Torn settled into bed himself, and Daxter scampered up to his bunk. There was quiet in the underground.

And then Daxter's voice came again.

"Hey... Jak, you awake?"

There was a pause before Jak responded. "Yeah... I'm here."

"Strange stuff going on, buddy."

"Strange things have been happening since Sandover Dax."

"You know what I mean. That _feeling. _It was just wrong... and I'm sure it's gotta do with _her." _

There was a pause as Loor felt the fuel of adrenaline rejuvenating the gears in her head. She knew what feeling they were talking about; the tension that had been in the air when they visited with the oracle. The fact that it centered on her made her afraid... was there some force, perhaps the precursors themselves, that knew she didn't belong?

Was that the real reason Chelsea died? To remove someone who didn't belong?

"I don't know Dax." Jak finally said. "I don't know why... but she felt it too, and she was just as confused as we were. I don't think she's dangerous; she's just like us."

"Just like _you. _And I call BS on not dangerous. You saw what she changed into. Kinda like you... but... y'know, hot, in a really scary way."

There was another pause, and Loor got the feeling that Jak was either face-palming or feeling the need to do so. "Dax... never change."

"Will do, partner!"

* * *

**The Author's Corner**

WOO! Another chapter in the bag! I'm happy with the way this one came out.

Not much else to say... um...

ONWARD!

-Loor


	13. Falling Through

**CLEANED UP**

**Clean-up notes for this chapter: **A few things got deleted, a couple details got changed, some dialog was messed with... and more un-packing. .

**Disclaimer: I do not own Jak and Daxter. Damnit. **

**Vacation Or War  
****Chapter Thirteen-Falling Through**

Lauren found herself in a dream, climbing a tree. She knew the tree, it was one she often climbed at home. The branches might as well been a rock steady ladder for the ease she scaled them with, but she realized this dream was also a memory. She pulled herself up into the tree with desperation, tears rolling down her face, muscles straining to get her up faster.

This was a time not too long ago, several months, when she had attempted to end her life once. She'd grown sick of Chelsea's copy-cat antics, Alex's ever cycling self-destruction, and Ender's arrogance. She decided that she was done with all of it, convinced that not a single one of them cared about her, only hanging on to her to leech off of her and then drop her once they no longer needed her. In memory she ran through these reasons, sobbing, scaling a white pine of fifty feet with the intent to jump.

Following her was Chelsea. Chelsea had seen her run, seen her cry, and was coming to see what was wrong. She yelled up to her, asking why. She tried to climb the tree, but no one but Loor ever went higher than twenty feet, not even Ender with his ever sexist comments about men being better and braver than women.

From the top, Loor shouted that she was high enough to die. Chelsea pleaded with her, apologized when she didn't even know what she'd done wrong, forcing herself a few branches higher.

This had been a test of their friendship. Loor knew this memory too well; Chelsea had overcome her fear to get to Loor, to come to her and finally return some of the care that Loor constantly spent on everyone else. She'd felt so terribly after, but the time after allowed her to let her friends know that she did indeed have needs too... as reluctant as she was to admit that fact.

But in this replay of the memory, Chelsea's voice silenced. Lauren found herself in control at the top of the tree, and looked down to see a horrible sight.

In place of Chelsea, carefully picking her way up, Lyra was crewing up vertical ground to get to her. The beast was able to scale the tree at frightening speed, weaving between branches while hanging on with her talons, her mouth open and fangs exposed.

Lauren clung to the top of the tree, ready to be hit with a ball of teeth, claws, and fur. Instead Lyra catapulted past her, taking to the uppermost reaches of the tree and turning to look down at Loor, roaring. The girl stared in fear, but didn't let go. Instead she noted her precarious perch and started backing up on the branch she clung to, away from the trunk. She trusted the tree; she'd tested every branch, knew how they all bended. The one she currently stood on would eventually bend down to another frond that she could step down on, and so on and so forth. After her suicide attempt, she realized these same bendy branches would have broken her fall enough to make it mortally wounding, but not instant death.

Thankfully, in reality, she had not jumped at all, and no longer thought so fondly of doing so.

Lyra followed, her body flowing about branches as her claws clung to whatever she wished, spine and tail following her nose as she started to approach Loor, following her.

It was then that Lyra spoke. Her mouth did not open but to hiss and show off the great hooked canines in her maw, but the voice Loor had come to know came loud and clear. _**Do it. **_She commanded. _**Jump off... like you wanted...**_

Loor shook her head, frowning. "No!" She cried out. "I never wanted this! I was just angry... this was all just one big frustrated cry for attention, I understand that now!"

_**Are you still yelling for her? I removed her from this memory so you could do it again. Do it differently. Jump. Die. **_

Loor realized two things very quickly from Lyra's words. The beast didn't understand her; she seemed to think that Loor was still calling out for Chelsea. That and Lyra seemed to think that this was some sort of repeat of reality; she said the word _die_ as if she actually expected Loor to die in reality if she jumped in this replay of a memory. She didn't know why Lyra had no understanding of the spoke word, here in Loor's mind, when she seemed to understand it perfectly well outside.

She'd seemed to understand it, but Loor only spoke outloud during their exchanges to scream something she'd already said, to deny Fury's blood on her hands. Had Lyra truly understood, or had she simply gone with it?

The animal didn't give her any more time to think, leaping for her and spooking her back, the branch bouncing with the added weight. _**DIE! Let me outside again, let me live! **_

Loor shook her head furiously, changing over to her thoughts to communicate. _It doesn't work that way! This is just a memory! It's already gone!_

Lyra appeared struck, the words clearly making it to her. She looked for a moment like she was going to back off, but then she kicked off and tackled her host, taking them both off of the branch and on a crash course with the ground.

Falling, Loor couldn't help her horror. She'd never fallen, never slipped from her tree, and the terror that took her made her bellow in protest, scream in defiance, against the force that had taken her so roughly from the tree.

"LYRA!"

* * *

"LYRA!"

Loor awoke from her nightmare, attempting to sit up quickly but finding herself tangled and trapped in the thin and itchy blanket on her bunk. It strangled her, making her wild struggle to get away from in at the grips of her imagination all the more desperate, letting out a softer noise of distress before realizing where she was, and the fact that the others were likely sleeping. She shut up, figuring out how she was tangled and listening to the rest of the room as she released herself.

She could hear Torn softly snoring, and a higher-pitched breathing that had to be Daxter, snoozing away. She had just managed to get away from her blanket and to the edge of her bunk when she felt the whole structure shift. She heard Jak now, clearly awakened by the disturbance and grumbling to himself. A moment later his head appeared from above, upside down and glaring at her.

"What the hell are you doing?" He whispered, grumpy from being woken. "Yelling shit in the middle of the night..."

He trailed, his voice draining when she looked up at him, the clear look of terror still etched onto her face. It made him back off, aware of exactly why she had such a look. After a moment his head disappeared before his feet replaced them, dropping down off the upper bunk and coming to sit by her. "What did it do?" He asked, his voice much softer now.

She liked that he kinda knew what was going on, but at the same time he didn't. Sure, his mind had been ripped in two by eco, and perhaps Dark had taken some memories and twisted them into horrific nightmares, but that particular memory had given her frights before. The fact that Lyra had twisted it took an already traumatic night-time experience and turned it into something that may not have been a near-death experience, but certainly _felt_ like one. Either way, the common ground made her calm down and take her blanket again, wrapping it around her shoulders.

"Messing with an old memory." She answered once she had the blanket. "It was bad enough normally... but she made it worse."

"You named her?" He asked, since she had shouted a name upon waking.

"She named herself... she took it from my memories, but I didn't give the name to her." She paused, shaking her head slowly. Even though she'd known it was a dream from the start, it had felt so very real. That alone disturbed her; she felt as if she'd fallen from a forty foot drop but never hit an impact. In a way she felt like she was still falling, or perhaps just floating. "Has... yours... done anything like this? Twisting up memories into nightmares?"

He nodded, not bothering to describe. "I don't know why though... there doesn't seem to be a point."

"She was pretty clear..." Loor took a deep breath, feeling her lungs expand and washing her out as she let it go. She had to let some of the tension out of her system to think properly. "She wanted out. She wanted to live... I think she figured if I died, willingly died in one of my memories, it would somehow get rid of me in the here and now. She hasn't been..." She hesitated to use the word 'alive,' "Aware of herself for more than a day. Perhaps she mistook my memories as something she could change... removing parts of the past to change the future. Things I remember more vividly must seem real to her."

She looked over to see he was giving her a shocked look. "What?" She asked.

"You put that all together just now?"

"Just piecing together the puzzle." She shrugged, though she felt a secret measure of pride for having surprised him. "She's something like a child. Learning, but not quite understanding."

He snorted. "Right, a child with fangs, claws, and a taste for blood. I don't think either of them would be welcome at the local playschool or nursery."

Loor blinked a few times, thinking about what a small child would do with the tail she'd seen on Lyra's form as it had been presented to her mentally. Then, of course, what the animal would do about it. She couldn't help a giggle at the thought. "No, that sounds like a pretty bad idea." She kept a smile as Jak chuckled with her, but the look of enjoyment quickly dropped off of his face. When she looked she could see he was brooding.

Of course. They were talking about the product of two years of torture in his case. Anything related to the thing in his body probably led him straight back to thinking about the Baron, and ripping his head off. Loor wondered why the same rage didn't take her as well, but she figured she knew why. She was out for the whole thing, and she had someone else to blame for getting into this mess in the first place.

Herself. There she felt her anger, her guilt, but she was able to tuck it away. She ignored it while looking at him, giving him a nudge. "Hey..." She said softly, getting him to look over at her.

She couldn't stand other people looking so down, or upset. She got the need to help the second she saw that glum face of his. His aqua eyes were discouraging, hallow, but she didn't allow that to stop her from giving it a shot.

"We'll get him." She said, her voice soft in tone but solid with conviction. "Just keep your head up."

He nodded, but his posture was still bent and dejected.

"C'mon," She cajoled, "you _can_ smile."

The look softened, but he then became cynical. "Why?" He questioned.

She wasn't quite sure how to answer him. The whole conversation was quite dizzying for her, since she was so used to seeing his face on a TV screen. She knew every line in the game, every little detail of Haven city and Jak's adventure through it, but now he might as well have been a stranger. She had no idea what to say, how to comfort him, what to do to make him lighten up.

She'd never been totally hell bent on revenge. The one time in her life she'd ever felt a need for revenge, it was because a rooster had nearly taken her eye out, and she hadn't even been able to cut its head off herself. She had never been angry enough to take a life, even a non-intelligent one.

Still, she had to say _something. _

"You're not alone in this." She offered. "Reason enough for me."

A pause was left for him to stare at her before shaking his head and standing up, seeming uncomfortable. "Whatever. We should both get back to bed."

She smirked, standing up and having to get the last word in. As he hefted himself up to his bunk, she stood up on her bunk so she could hook her shoulders over the rail on his. "Whatever yourself, Mr. Depressed, I bet I can get you to smile by the end of the week."

"How much you wanna put on that?" He questioned, clearly skeptic.

She grinned at him. "Thirteen cents." She said before dropping down, turning to go for a walk. She needed some fresh air after her little night episode, even if the air in the slums wasn't exactly like a sweet summer breeze at home. Walking around and getting some breathing room would help clear out her brain. She didn't bother with boots or even her shirt, passing the door to the outside in her pants and sports bra.

"Hey!" He called after her before she had even gotten all the way out onto the street.

She rolled her eyes. Apparently Jakkie-boy didn't like it when someone else got the last word. She looked back, waiting up as he followed her up the stairs that led to the street. "What the hell do you mean?" He asked, giving her a clearly confused expression.

"Exactly what I said." She smirked, looking down the stairwell at him. "Thirteen cents says I will have you smiling and giggling like an idiot by week's end."

"You know what I mean." He growled. "Don't you think thirteen is a weird number?"

She came in from the street to stand on the stairs so the door would close, leaning on the wall and crossing her arms over her chest. "It's the family bet. In my family, if we ever argue about something and decide to bet on it, thirteen is always the number."

"Right..." He was still near the main room, having hopped from his bunk when she'd gone to take off. "What kind of family do you come from?"

"A fun one, to start with." She snickered. "Even if times were shitty, we managed to play around a bit."

"No wonder you're so sunny all the time." He batted back sarcastically. "Where are you going now anyway?"

"Just out to walk. I don't need an escort." She waved him off. "Go back to bed, I'll be back at a reasonable time."

He gave her a quick up-down look, shaking his head and returning to the main room. She turned to the door once more, figuring he was heading back to bed, but she was surprised when she heard him bark, "Heads up!"

She turned suddenly, seeing something flying at her and catching it. She found it to be her shirt and weapon, glancing back to the doorway to see Jak properly climbing up the ladder to his bunk.

She huffed, pulling her shirt on and slapping her weapon onto her back. "Whatever makes you sleep better." She grumbled, marching out the door.

* * *

Despite her proclamation about being back at a reasonable time, Loor never actually came back to go to bed. She had walked the slums, having planned to go to Vin for a visit and getting reminded of the city checkpoint between the industrial section and the slums. It lefter wandering aimlessly, trying to puzzle things out again.

The VC-M1 was a question that lodged in her brain; _how_ had it gotten her here? There had to be an answer. It couldn't be a malfunction, or simply something going haywire. No, something else had to be going on, but what?

She shook her head, running her fingers through her hair. This was all nonsense. How could she puzzle anything out when eco worked on a completely different level than what she was used to? Working with electronics, she'd been learning about them her whole life. In the case of eco her experience was jack-shit! Well, maybe not quite that little of experience, seeing as she currently had a split personality prowling about in her head thanks to it.

_**It's nice to be loved. **_

Loor controlled the flinch her body tried to exhibit as Lyra spoke to her again.

_What the hell do you want? _The girl snapped back, getting better at multitasking. She was able to keep walking and be aware of where she was going while speaking to the beast, though it took effort. _You think I wanna talk to you after what you just did? _

_**You told me it wasn't real, that I couldn't have actually hurt you. I figured no harm, no foul. **_

_You still scared the fuck out of me! _The girl shook her head, picking her way back to the underground. He plan was to get back on the roof. _And it doesn't change the fact that you were trying to kill me! _

She could hear the animal chuckling, most amused. _**Fear is quite interesting... I'd say its something you don't experience often. You've been rather deep in it of late, without much resistance. You say I am like a child, but you... screaming it isn't so... you'd rather hide from all this. You squander your ability to live...**_

There was anger, rage, growing in her voice.

_**If I find a way to remove you from your place and take it, I will. I will not remain trapped in here.**_

_You're not trapped. You talk like I'm keeping you like this... _

_**Weren't you yesterday? Locked me down, just so you didn't have to listen to me! I refuse to be caged in, particularly not by someone as childish and petty as you! **_

_You got your first taste of life, and now you're throwing a tantrum over the fact that you're still the lesser force in my mind! Who the hell is childish? _

Loor had made it back to the underground, but she didn't dare the climb while she and Lyra were arguing. She felt as if Lyra's rage had begun to burn her skin, feeling the hair on her back of her neck standing up again. Still, it wasn't quite the same as before. While she became tense, feeling Lyra's searing emotions, there was no spark. The eco that was the animal's life-blood was indeed present, but not in enough bulk for Lyra to enforce any control over her host.

_**Someday I will rip you to shreds, take your complicated brain apart till you're nothing more than a drooling semblance of what was once an 'intelligent' being. **_

_So you can do whatever you freakin' want? And what if you destroy too much, hm? You want to take me out, order me around like some kinda zombie, good for you! But you fuck around up there too much and try ripping me apart from the inside out, you just might damage something important and then we're both stuck as a fucking vegetable! How'd you like that, trapped in a body that can't even pick up a fork, much less slash someone open, or whatever it is you like to do. _

Loor, to be totally honest, was making it up as she went. But she didn't let that admittance cross her mind; she had to believe in what she was saying if she was going to get Lyra to back off. She ran with her rant, her mental voice booming as she felt Lyra's confidence and slinky mystery begin to curl up like a cornered cat, agitation taking over and the need to fight back becoming prominent.

_I get it, you got a taste of what its like out here, and you want more! But if you make me fucking brain dead to get there you're gonna take yourself out too! You fucking live up there, and tearing it apart ain't gonna help you out! Got a death wish? Be my fucking guest, but if you actually wanna help me, I donno, **survive, **we could work this shit out when I'm not on the verge of a mental break down!_

Loor felt like she should have been panting from exertion. Either way, her hands were shaking with the passion of the moment.

_**Don't lock me out anymore.**_ Was the low growl that came back. **_Let me see through your eyes... let me watch. _**

A deal. Loor suspected it at once, but again she had to head herself off and ask herself what she was actually afraid of? As long as she wasn't too chatty and distracting her it would be fine, and Loor would be left with the full use of her brain at all times instead of quarantining her higher thinking abilities just to keep the monster trapped. She didn't have enough eco in her system for the beast to stage a take-over... so for now, it would be safe.

_Alright. But no talking when the shit's comin' down, deal? _

There was a moment's hesitation. Surprise came through; Lyra wasn't expecting it to be that easy.

_**Deal.**_

Loor let out both a mental sigh and an actual breath of relief, feeling as if she'd just averted some sort of massive disaster or confrontation. Comforted by what she felt was some small victory, she set to getting the zoomer on the corner to get up onto the roof.

She'd be there till morning, watching the multicolored stars.

* * *

**-Author's Corner-**

Woo! New chapter done, and I've gotten through house sitting my place for a whole week. I hate house sitting... milking goats sucks. Actually it's just one goat, the others just want the grain I'm feeding her while I milk her... and they're bloody stubborn about it. Bah, oh well.

I hope everyone is enjoying. I've gotten no new reviews, but I'm guessing that's because this fic is still at the bottom of the story list. No new blood, and the vets haven't been been properly alerted to its presence.

But they will be... in about twenty two chapters.

Next time punks.

-Loor


	14. Worth

**CLEANED UP**

**Clean-up notes for this chapter: **Dialog changes, but events mainly left alone.

**Disclaimer: No ownage on Jak and Daxter. I only have one copyright to my name, and that's a poor-man's copyright to my original story. Apologies. **

**Vacation Or War  
****Chapter Fourteen- Worth**

The morning air was briefly chill before the sun rose up over Haven's security walls, banishing the damp feeling left behind by the night, burning away the dew. Watching this event, from the stars slowly vanishing to the sun's first rays, was Lauren. She was on the roof, curled up on herself, hardly bothered by the fact that she'd barely dozed off the night before.

The problem was that she had stopped crying. She was too terrified to cry. Without tears to slow down the gears in her brain they were spinning full force, leading her about in circles as she tried to figure out what the hell she needed to do. Fury's death had weighted her down at first, but now it made a very clear point to her; her own mortality. Fury was _dead. _Burned up and the leftover ashes sitting in a jar by her bunk. There were a great many ways to die in the world she used to live in, and that was _without_ war and guns.

Fear drove her engine of a brain, questioning what she could do. She wasn't playing a game, sitting safe in her room. She was in a war zone with a weapon strapped to her back, given a symbol of involvement to wear on her body.

She glanced at the sun, wondering how soon it would be before Torn was looking for her to send her out. Maybe she'd be pushed to finish the mission Fury failed to do, and quite possibly meet the same fate.

_**Such non-sense. Must you be so pessimistic? You know how to use that weapon, don't you? You did quite well before, despite being scared out of your mind.**_

_Are you kidding? That was one of the easiest missions in the damn game, and I was panicking the whole freakin' way! If Jak and Sig hadn't been backing me up, I would have been ripped apart! They shot half of the beasts I took down..._

_**And you were quite offended that they helped you, if I remember your emotional reactions correctly. It's rather funny, you know that it would be death if they didn't assist, but you sorely want to prove yourself worthy of being here. **_

"You're up early."

Loor broke out of what was about to bloom into an argument with her other self, looking up to see someone climbing up to her perch. She blinked, stifling a yelp at being found but reminding herself she'd done nothing wrong. She'd just gone up high to get away.

And Jak had found her. She stared at him as he pulled himself the rest of the way up, dumbly offering a hand even though he probably didn't need it. It took her until he grasped her hand and flopped onto the rooftop for her brain to construct any sort of comeback.

"Actually..." She said with a giggle, taking her hand back. "I never went to bed... so I'm just up really, really late."

"What happened to being back at a reasonable time?" He moved to sit by her, looking out at the dawn-time sun that she'd been watching. "Torn's already got something for us, he just sent me to go find you."

"And how exactly did you find me?" She asked while leaning forward and looking down the side of the building. She'd climbed down before, but she was yet to attempt climbing up. "Was the zoomer a give-away?"

"The zoomer...?" He also looked down, then groaned. "_That's_ how you got up here. Shoulda thought of that... No, I heard something thumping around on the roof last night. When you weren't back, I figured it might've been where you were hiding."

"You must have been up pretty late to hear me get up here." She noted.

"At least I wasn't up all night. How do you expect to stay on your feet?"

"I'm usually up all night; just how I function..." She then paused, frowning slightly. Now faced with him, she felt terribly for trying to hit him the night before. "Uh... hey... I'm sorry about yesterday... I was..."

"A bit lost?" He offered.

"I've never seen anyone die before. Ever. I feel like I should have saved her... and then I realize I could be the next one to trip and fall." She rested her chin on her knees, already curled up and hugging her legs. "It's certainly not any fun..."

He gave her a look. "If you haven't noticed, we're in the middle of a war. It's not supposed to be any fun."

Lauren lifted her head to stare right back at him. Jak, _the_ Jak, just said that having fun didn't matter? Yeah right, after all the Daxter bashing that one could jam into several games and fan fictions; Jak was made out to be a fun person. Moody, but fun. "Fun is required, Jakkie boy." She informed him.

Jak raised an eyebrow at her. "Says the girl who nearly punched me yesterday?"

Lauren giggled, ducking her head down a little bit. "I already apologized for that, and don't get used to it. I don't apologize often." She put her hands behind her head, leaning back on the rooftop. "So do we know what we're doing today?" She asked. It was good to know what you're doing when stuck in a danger zone.

Jak shrugged, leaning back. "Vin wants the both of us to go and take out metal head eggs at the drill platform ASAP. Like I said, Torn sent me to come find you and get moving."

She expected that, nodding and moving to start climbing down the roof. She wasn't wearing her boots, and found the job much easier for it. Her toes were able to search out footholds, making her feel more stable. She had very flexible toes, able to grab things if she wanted to. She loved to pick things up with her feet as a child, much to the disgust of her mother. She could even snap her big toe with the toe next to it, something else that made her mother shudder.

She glanced up to see Jak following her down, looking just in time to see his foot slip from a hold she'd used. It make her grin, smug as she always was whenever she found something she was good at. She watched a second more, the grin growing as she noted the view she had of him at the moment.

_**Very lean... **_Lyra purred. **_You should squeeze him sometime... for me. _**

That feeling blossomed in her head again; the warmth. She couldn't shove it off like before, but she did strike her head against the wall in front of her, the pain distracting her effectively from Lyra's clear intentions and emotions. She then looked down, decided she was close enough to the ground to jump, and made the leap to the street.

Jak joined her a moment later, giving her a look since her forehead was now bleeding. "What was _that _about?"

"Brain took a detour." She said quickly, shrugging it off. "I whack myself in the head a lot. Usually not so hard..." She put a finger to the spot, noting the blood and sighing. It was just a scrape, but it still stung. "Gonna give myself brain damage if I keep doing that..."

She had a thought on how that could be a positive thing, given the current situation.

Turning to the door to enter the underground, she went inside and got the few things Jak hadn't thrown at her the night before; her boots and her red scarf. As she was strapping her feet in she noted the stuff next to her bed; a bronze urn, and second red scarf, and a couple of pistols. Fury's memorial. She tried not to stare at it, tying her scarf tight to her forehead, pulling it down far enough to fluff her hair over it, and pushing it back up to hold her hair out of her face. It also neatly covered the cut on her forehead.

Getting back outside she saw Jak had gone and gotten a zoomer while she was getting dressed. She also saw that it was a one-person zoomer.

She walked right past him, in search of her own vehicle. He opened is mouth to argue with her, but she laughed shortly while putting a hand up. "Dude, I don't let anyone hold the handlebars but me. Plus I need more practice driving." She then stopped, actually looking him up and down and raising a brow. "By the way... aren't you missing something?"

Jak looked to himself and realized he'd gotten all ready to leave and Daxter wasn't on his shoulder. "Oh, shit..." He hopped off the zoomer, going inside to get his partner.

Lauren snickered. She wondered if Jak had nearly forgotten Daxter on purpose. She kept walking, and found a zoomer conveniently parked not too far away. When she came back Jak was coaxing a drowsy Daxter not to fall off of his shoulder. Lauren giggled at the picture, and nodded at Jak to say 'I'm going now. Catch up when you can.' And turned her vehicle around, flooring it and then backing off the speed.

If she was going to drive she was not going to hit anyone.

She moved into the upper zone and drove around traffic, managing only a few close calls when she made it back to the stupid red wall. Quietly cursing she waited for Jak for about two minuets before she heard him coming; the heralding noise being a whining engine and a screaming ottsel.

Jak 'zoomed' up and past her. Lauren barely had a few seconds of clearance before the wall jumped up again. Jak was pressed down to his zoomer, and losing her fast. Lauren did the same for aerodynamics and glanced back to see what the hell was going on. It didn't take long to see that Jak had pissed someone off in getting here. The KG was hot on his tail. She got a little flatter on her ride and tried to bring a little more power out of it's whining engine. She was able to keep Jak in her view, but that was all.

Maybe it was better she was a little behind, because if she had been tailing Jak she would have missed numerous turns. He was taking the long way around to shake the big boys in red.

In Haven city it's hard to tell when the alarm goes down, accepting the fact that the KG stops shooting at you. Adrenaline tells you to keep going away from what was happening, and you might come close enough to hitting a red cruiser that the alarm will go back up. On the other hand, after a few days in Haven, Jak had become a master at telling whether or not he needed to worry. Something to do with being through danger before, Lauren believed. So Lauren didn't question him when he finally stopped. She just caught up and smirked at him from her place in Haven city air congestion.

Jak glanced up. "I thought I was catching up with you." He commented, smirking lightly. Daxter seemed to be hanging on for dear life, only now loosening his fuzzy hands from Jak's hair, and dumbfounded for the moment.

Lauren giggled, embarrassed. "I already said I don't know how to drive that well, and you had to go get your ass in trouble."

Jak smirked, turning the zoomer he was on slightly toward a ramp not too far away. "Getting in trouble is half of the fun." He went to the lower zone, and Lauren quickly followed, both of them getting off and walking for the ramp. "I believe someone told me fun was required. You know, kinda short, black hair, acts like a total tough girl but couldn't crush a metal head egg for the life of her."

Lauren tried not to rise to the insult. "Oh yeah, real funny, I forgot how to laugh." She said sarcastically. "What," She continued. "You going to try and train me or something Mr. Hero?"

Jak nudged her. "Careful, you might learn something."

Lauren returned the nudge with a playful punch to his shoulder. "Don't worry. I'll figure it out sooner or later. Just got to work at it."

Both of them had walked up the ramp now and ended the conversation upon walking into the Power Station. Daxter had recovered by now and looked about. "Vin? Hello? Gears and Bolts?"

Vin suddenly appeared from behind a glowing blue screen. "Eco and Grids was my high school nickname, thank you." He said, quickly returning to work on… whatever. "Gears and Bolts was a friend of mine who was a mechanic."

Lauren walked ahead of the males in the group. "Nice to know. Is the warp gate all set up to take us to the drill platform?"

Vin stopped for a moment and stared at her. "Are you sure you want to go?" He asked, not naming the current issue. He heard from Chelsea pre-mortem that Lauren had a habit of skipping being pissed and just kicking ass.

Lauren shrugged. "The metal heads aren't going to kill themselves." She said like it was nothing. That even caught Jak a little off guard. Either this girl was really forgetful, or really cold. Thing is, he doubted both. This morning she'd seemed quite disturbed, but now she was smiling and even looking a tad cocky. It reminded him of how she'd acted all on top of things when talking to Torn the other day, but the second she got away she'd looked rather lost.

It was a strong front. Her game face.

Vin stared for a second more then nodded, waving her off and turning back to his work. "Okay, get rid of them fast. The Shadow needs as much time as possible to come up with a good plan. The longer the shield holds out, the better."

Loor grinned with a fake salute, using only two fingers. "Yissir!" Approaching the warp gate, she had to examine it with curiosity. She hadn't taken the time to process it the day before, too panicked to do anything but use the ring. Now she looked with fascination at it, the area inside of the ring at first looking clear until she changed her angle, seeing a flat plane within the ring that looked like the surface of water, gently rippling from the center out.

Standing beside the warp ring, she noted that Jak had gotten impatient with her and was preparing to jump through instead of waiting. She backed off, watching as he got a running start and vaulted through.

She was able to watch from the side as he went in one side but didn't come out the other. It made her blink, jerking back slightly. "Whoa..."

"Don't got teleporters were you're from?" Vin asked casually.

"We haven't even made anything like a zoomer, Vin. I think we'd have to figure out hover vehicles before we figure out how to make a person go instantly from place to place." She came around to the front of the portal, almost afraid to touch it now. She couldn't remember what it had been like to go through it before, though she'd done it twice yesterday. Still, like most things, she only got over it by jumping in with both feet.

Literally.

One second she was in the power station, the next she was standing on the drill platform. It came with a feeling that tingled, much like a foot falling asleep. At the same time she felt as if she'd been chopped to bits and then pieced back together Sally-the-rag-doll style. She understood Samos's worry about losing body parts in teleporters now, the smile she'd been exhibiting before having dropped off at the strange and unpleasant feeling, replaced by a tight frown and wide eyes.

The boys, waiting on the other side, had to chuckle at her expression.

Needless to say Lauren quickly wiped said look off her face and glared at them both. "Come on, we got shit to do." She growled, pulling out her stave. With a quick squeeze it expanded, and she gave it a twist to try and warm up her muscles a bit. Her reflexes were good; she just had to figure out what she was doing before she tried to do it. She couldn't have another run like yesterday; speeding up to a metal head without even having a plan between her ears.

Jak snickered at her as Dax hunkered down, turning to lead the way. He'd drawn out the morph gun, blaster mod in place.

Loor had begun stepping rather carefully, becoming hyper observant. It was part of her practices back at home; she'd spend whole nights learning how to detect even the slightest noises, training her senses to find little disturbances and bring them to the forefront of her awareness. She knew how to step quietly and react quickly.

Now she just had to learn how to react _correctly_. If she didn't prove herself soon, she imagined the underground would toss her into the nearest safe-house and tell her to duck her head until the war ended, and she couldn't allow that. She needed Vin's help, and as much as he hated to remember there was the fact that his days were numbered.

So she needed to be useful, and keep active.

The trio made it to the elevator leading up to the first turret without incident. Nothing attacked them, and nothing appeared out of the ordinary aside from being incredibly empty. Getting on the elevator and up to the platform with the turret, Loor was able to get a view of the drill platform that she hadn't bothered to notice the last time she was here.

The thing was a gigantic structure like an empty square, built around a gigantic drill bit that had to be hundreds of feat below. She wondered how the structure stayed upright, and noted it was also rotating slowly. This note along with the fact that she didn't feel herself moving made her slightly sick for a moment, forcing herself to look up. The platform itself must have been propelled in some way, staying upright but still putting enough downward force on the drill for it to work.

Jak's attention had been focused on something else though; the eggs clinging to many of the building that made up the drill platform. She saw them now, glowing and bulbous. She then looked at the turret, and blinked. She wondered if eggs growing on the platform was something that happened often for there to be security measures in such convenient placement.

Jak turned to her, shoving the blaster into her hands. She fumbled it, forced to put away her weapon to grab the gun, looking at Jak with an indignant look on her face. "Jak!" She said in what was best described as someone whispering but trying to scream at the same time. "I can't shoot worth a damn, what the hell are you doing?"

Jak quickly looked back, having moved to saddle up in the turret. "Shooting is easier because it's not up close and personal. It trains you in, and some cover fire would be useful." He returned, just as quietly. The only sound that kept the location away from silence was the gigantic drill bit working at the ground hundreds of feet below. "As soon as I start shooting this thing the nasties come out, so point the end at the baddies and shoot. Simple, unless you don't know how to pull a trigger, then we're screwed."

Lauren was about to argue, but saved her breath. Jak was acting pretty intense, and she couldn't use the argument, 'Well you did it all by yourself in the game!' without some serious problems. So she nodded, trying to figure how to hold the damn thing. She never paid attention to this stuff, but one had went on the trigger while the other went on the extra part of the barrel. She guessed the barrel itself got pretty hot after a few shots.

Jak glanced back at her as if to say 'are you ready?' to which she nodded.

It was simple enough; he'd shoot the eggs, she'd run interference. It wouldn't be such a problem if she wasn't such a fail case with gun-play. Honestly the blaster reminded her of a .22 semi-auto rifle they had at home, something she and her brother would shoot, using old pop-cans as target practice. Her brother was great; he almost never missed. Loor never hit. She could miss the can from ten feet away; the only thing she ever shot being air, or a bird, which was an accident.

When Jak started up shooting eggs, it didn't matter. When the nasties came she began firing wildly, pushed to action instead of argument simply by the fact that they were indeed under attack.

And these nasties could shoot back. Gyro-type metal heads reminded Loor more of machines than animals, seeing as they flew via jet propulsion and were able to fire right back at her a type of shot similar to the blaster's. At first she panicked, since every slug she fired off went wide of her target. She wasn't taking time to aim, shooting from the hip and sure she'd run out of bullets before she ran out of targets.

And then she hit one. It was probably her tenth shot, but she hit one. At first she yelped, seeing it go down, but the others, seeing as several had flown up by now, turned their attention to her after she took one out. This made her all the more desperate, trying to steady shaky hands while pulling the weapon tight into her shoulder to hold against the slight kick.

Six shots, and another went down. Seven, five, eight. Her aim was terrible but she was picking them off, one by one. With wild eyes she glanced about, searching for her next target before it found her.

But finally there were no more. Jak had finished getting rid of all the eggs, and came back for his gun.

She happily pushed it back into his waiting hands, pulling her weapon back out. Despite the fact that they had both survived, she was embarrassed and defensive before he'd even said a word. "I told you I couldn't shoot." She snapped, marching back to the elevator.

"Easy." He chuckled, following after her. "It didn't kill you, did it?"

"Very well could have, those things were getting pissed with me."

"Lighten up, toots." Daxter advised as the elevator began to move, dropping below the level they'd started on. "You're still new; give yourself some time. As long as you're on our side, you're as safe as can be."

She blinked at Daxter, wanting to make a crack on how if he hadn't hung around with Jak he'd still be human, but she imagined that would be about as ill received as the previous comment she wanted to make. Instead she shrugged, moving forward as the elevator stopped. "I think I'll just stick with melee combat..."

There was a beat for pause before Jak asked. "Sure you don't wanna take the next turret? The eggs don't shoot back, I promise."

She chuckled, the three of them making their way up the side of another structure to a tower that Jak had blown a hole into while shooting eggs. "I suppose stationary is easier than things flying around... Nice work with the turret by the way." She commented, smirking. "Vin'll love the fact that there's a nice big hole in one of the towers." She already knew this was required, but it was still fun to needle the reckless hero she was working with.

Jak glanced back at her. "Thanks." He said, grinning.

Daxter sniggered. "What can we say? Blowing stuff up is fun."

Lauren giggled. "I guess I wouldn't know." She said with a shrug.

"You'll learn." Dax assured, grinning. "Just stick with us and you'll see all the fun breakin' stuff can be!"

* * *

**The Author's Corner**

Yeah, I changed some stuff. Don't worry, Jak isn't letting Loor get off easy with the shooting thing.

Oh no... not one bit.

Next time, punks!

-Loor


	15. Personal Business

**CLEANED UP**

**Clean-up notes for this chapter: **Wow, I was supposed to murder another character by now, and I'm still beating adventure sense into Loor's sheltered brain. Hah! Several event-changes and some content changes; this is where I begin to fix my poor planning that painted me into a horrible corner in later books; now we see more of the VC-M1's inner workings, and a little more truth of where Loor is from.

Or should I say... when?

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Jak and Daxter trademark or any other copy written items attached to it. **

**Vacation Or War  
****Chapter Fifteen- Personal Business**

_BLAM!_

Lauren emerged from the last turret, smirking widely at Jak, who was chuckling under his breath, shaking his head. Daxter was staring at the tower that was crashing down to form a twisted metal bridge back to the warp gate. No one talked as the wrenching squeal emitted from the mangled iron landing hard on the platform and settling into position, but all three of them went to cover their ears. Daxter was just an animal, and both Lauren and Jak suffered sense enhancement from their darks. Once the sound subsided, Jak let his hands drop and smirked at her. "And you yell at _us_ for blowing shit up?"

Lauren shrugged, her ears still ringing. "That's half the fun." She defended, leading the way to the bridge she'd just created. She still had her weapon drawn, expecting more nasties, but Jak had relaxed. "Or so I am learning."

"That'a'girl." Daxter encouraged. "We'll turn you reckless yet."

"At least my aim ain't so terrible anymore..." She sighed, stopping on yet another elevator platform that would take them down to the twisted and make-shift bridge. She'd done better with the turret, not to mention the eggs weren't such small targets and weren't moving. Her confidence had grown a little bit, but not enough to give up the last turret out of the three they'd found and try Jak's gun again. "Course the fact that it's a frigging cannon might have helped a bit."

"Still managed to miss half of the time." Jak snickered, stepping off of the elevator in the lead as it stopped, hopping up onto their bridge.

"Hush you." She grumped at him, though playfully. He had turned back to offer her help up, but she made a point of ignoring him and getting up on her own, trotting to get ahead on the narrow path. She regretted it almost at once, reminded that they were _very_ up high and due to the rushed construction of her bridge it had no handrails. Still, she hid this away while moving faster, feet placed perfectly one in front of the other.

Getting to the other side and hopping off, Loor eyed the warp gate warily. She wasn't looking forward to another one of these things, and stalled while putting her weapon away. Jak caught up as she was still hesitating, and she heard Daxter snickering at her.

"She's as bad as Samos…" She heard Daxter mutter to Jak. Both boys chuckled. Lauren glared at them for two seconds before taking several steps back, getting a running start, and launching herself through in a tight spiral…

…to land hard on her back on the other side. Vin cried out in surprise, quickly calming down when he figured out Lauren wasn't some kind of metal head. "Don't teleport often, do you?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

Lauren looked up and shrugged from her position on the floor. "Not really."

Suddenly both Jak and Daxter appeared, Jak pulling Lauren's move and landing it on his shoulders, rolling and jumping up to his feet in the middle of the room. Daxter had skidded through backwards as if he had somehow been dislodged from Jak's shoulder, rolled twice, and hit his head hard on Jak's boot. Lauren stifled a laugh as Daxter got up and stumbled around a little bit before Jak picked him up and replaced him back on his little piece of shoulder armor. Jak then looked down at Lauren. "Comfy?"

Lauren tossed her black hair a little bit, smiling. "Yeah, It's a good spot." She then rolled backwards over her shoulders to get back to her feet, stretching up and turning to Vin.

It was then she noticed Vin was glancing uncomfortably between her and Jak. The white haired scientist had something to talk to her about, that much she could pick up at once. But it was more than that. He didn't seem afraid... but if she dared look close enough his hands were shaking slightly.

If not fear...

_Excitement_?

She felt herself smile at him, expecting the best. He'd figured something out, just as she'd expected him to.

Jak was about to say something to her as his comm. went off. Cursing as the device began floating on it's own accord, the person on the other side of the line began talking at soon as the connection was made.

Hello Krew.

"_Jak… I have a proposition for you. Come down to the bar and we'll discuss it 'eh? Might have something in it for you." _

Loor snickered as the comm. deactivated, that sounded like the racing mission; getting to Keira's garage in less than three minuets. "Looks like the fat ass is riding you again."

Jak looked rather disgusted while nodding slightly. "You wanna come with for this?"

She glanced to Vin again. "Naw, I need to talk to our buddy here for a while. I'll met up with out at the underground, later."

Vin nodded vigorously. "I'll set Loor up with a comm. unit so you two can keep in contact. Gotta stick together, right?"

"Right!" Daxter agreed as Jak turned to walk, waving shortly before stepping out the door.

Loor whipped around at once. "Yes?" She asked hopefully as soon as the door closed. "What is it?"

Vin rushed over to a storage cabinet under one of the many computer screens, opening it up with a key-code and a grin on his face. "You won't believe this; I found out what your missing piece was. Why the device worked when in contact with the open air."

"Really?" Loor questioned, following him. One had said that too many cooks spoiled the broth, but it would seem a second scientist was just what she needed to figure out the wrinkle in her creation.

"Eco, in its liquid form, can and will crystallize under heavy pressure and given time. Now most crystals have a particular pattern that they form in, according to their molecular structure they align in cubes, pentagons, and other geometric shapes, right?"

Loor shrugged. She'd lost interest in earth science years ago. Still, she remembered that tid bit of information enough to nod while crossing her arms. "Yeah. How does eco crystallize?"

"No pattern at all. A cross section looks like frost on glass, each shape unique and different, like snowflakes." Vin paused, looking for Loor's reaction. Her gaze had widened; she was right there with him. "Also," He continued. "Eco won't crystallize without the presence of water."

"Moisture. Hydration." Loor could have smacked herself. "That stupid control box I test everything in! The dry environment prevented the device from working because there was no water for the eco to catalyze with. I bet that irregular crystallization pattern is also why eco is so damn unstable in crystal form."

"And every other form it's in." Vin reminded. He had finally emerged from the storage area, pulling out a copy of the VC-M1, made to Loor's specifications. Loor could see the copper wire and magnet, left behind in the cabinet, but Vin had attached something to her device that made her want to squee.

A bottle, made of some sort of specially treated glass to resist eco's corrosive properties, had been attached by a similarly treated tube to the output of the device. About the size of an orange, it was full of the dark purple substance.

"It's incredible, really." Vin praised. "On a larger scale, this device could end the power crisis for good. I could get the raw materials, and keep the shield wall going indefinitely! All the dangerous mining operations, attracting metal heads from every corner of the world, moot!" He wiped his brow, sweating from the sheer excitement that the idea caused. "_Manufacturing _power... I never thought it possible."

Loor stared at him. There was an exact moment when she felt herself falling out of his amazed stupor.

He didn't feel it; he was too swept up in the hope that he'd never have to fear another metal head again. And it was a wonderful idea. Make power from inside the city, keep the shield wall up, never have to be afraid of the metal heads ever again.

But she felt as if she'd been struck in the stomach. That creeping feeling... it hit her hard as it had back on the docks in the slums, before meeting the oracle. There was something _wrong._

For this war to end, disaster had to strike. She knew, but Vin did not. His hope was on the shield wall protecting everyone until the Shadow figured out what to do; he didn't know that it had to be destroyed, that Jak had to see Kor change into the Metal Head leader with his own eyes, for this whole bloody event to come to a close.

Vin didn't know that he had to die in the end.

She felt as if she was suffocating. Drowning. She had to do something.

"No."

Vin snapped a look at her. "What?"

"Destroy the device, delete my instructions. Unless it's helped you discover something that might get me home, destroy all of it. Make it so no one, not even you, could put it back together again."

"But-"

"No buts." She shook her head violently. "Vin, I'm not from here, and anything I created doesn't belong here any more than I do. I don't care what it could do; it's not part of this."

He blinked, and then it struck him too. The color drained from his face, and he began to shake once more. This time, far more violently. _Now_ he was afraid. "You know how this all ends... don't you?"

"I know every event, every little detail." She sighed, taking the device from his hands and removing the bottle. She could feel the buzz of eco on the inside, something that made Lyra pay attention, like a cat waking from a nap and taking a most satisfying stretch, mewing to be fed. She held the bottle in one hand, and hurled the VC-M1 onto the floor.

At once the delicate structure broke apart, bits spreading across the floor. She approached the main piece; a spherical item that sat at the middle of the mechanism. This was what slowed down the electrons to be consolidated into liquid. It was the only part that hadn't shattered.

She brought her boot down on it, crushing the thin shell.

"How does it end?" Vin asked, staring as the feeling in the air finally eased off, both of them breathing easier.

"It's a long road... but we win in the end."

There was a long pause. Both of them stared at the shattered device on the floor.

"Did you find out anything else?" She asked slowly.

"There was no way the VC-M1 could have brought you here on its own. Something in your world would have had to reacted to it... but anything on this scale would have had to have been precursor technology... stuff we can't even reverse engineer."

"Precursor technology... it's powered by eco, just like everything else here, right?"

"Right."

"Go look at your history books, Vin." Loor advised. "I got another cage to rattle."

"History books?" Vin shook his head. "You don't think-?"

"I don't know what to think." She snapped. "All I know is this has to make sense. I didn't just _magically_ appear here. I don't care what reference you gotta tap, look at everything you got. If my world sounds like ancient history to you..."

She trailed off. She almost couldn't believe it herself.

"It just might be."

She turned for the door, wanting to walk and think.

"Wait!" Vin cried before she made it. She turned back to see him racing about to another cupboard, retrieving two items for her. One was a newer comm. model, more like the one Ashelin carried that was about the size of a trading card with a keypad and a screen set into it. The other was a leather pouch to belt around her hips, seeing as her pants lacked pockets. She took both with a smile and nod of thanks, tucking the communicator away once Vin programmed it for her with a few contacts; the message station at the power station, Torn's unit, and Jak's.

He also showed her the fact that it had a map, letting her see where people on her contacts list were, or at least where their unit was.

"We snipe these from KG supplies;" He added on before she left. "If your comm. is damaged, it'll send a distress signal to everyone on your contacts list. Careful, Torn gets really mad about false alarms. I also programmed it with cyphers to the industrial and stadium section city checkpoints, so you'll have an easier time getting around."

"Nifty." She commented, finally turning to leave. "Remember; look at anything you can find. Nothing is too small."

"You got it. Just... y'know, survive."

"Will do." She answered with a giggle and a small salute, getting out onto the street.

She also knew exactly where she needed to go next. Vin was convinced that precursor technology had to have been the fulcrum of her coming here, and she was willing to take the leap to believe that. Still, Vin wasn't a history expert; he was a tech head. He was likely to write anything off that wasn't a for sure fact.

But there was someone else who knew her artifacts very well, being daddy's little girl.

_Keira._

Loor turned her feet to walk back to the slums, jacking a zoomer on the way. She knew how to get into the stadium section without looking at her map; she'd long memorized the streets of Haven through hours of game-play. That left her to focus on not crashing into anyone or attracting attention from the KG.

She also still had that little bottle of eco. She wasn't sure what to do with it, if it was best to tuck it away somewhere or toss it into the water of the port. She really couldn't pocket it; the sphere wasn't sealed, a small hole where it had been attached to the VC-M1. She drove with one hand, looking at it and feeling the burn of the eco through the glass on her other hand.

She wondered if she could adsorb eco in it's raw form; the game still showed pools of eco to be instant death.

She eventually decided not to test it. When she crossed into the slums, she tossed the jar into one of the ditches. From where her drive went fairly easily, crossing into the green city section, which held the stadium as well as what seemed to be the upper end of Haven city. Dropping into the canals of water below street level, she got some practice driving at higher speeds and not worrying about hitting people.

Hugging the zoomer and maxing out her speed, the wind in her face gave her the same liberating feeling as running did back at home. The stadium almost came too soon, making her slow to a stop and get off to continue on with her personal mission.

She briefly wondered how she would explain to Keira about knowing she was the person to come to with questions about precursor junk, but quickly forgot about it. She was better with deception on the fly, anyway. Without sparing another moment of brainpower, she trotted up the stadium steps and past the pole that blocked zoomers from getting into the garages.

Keira's was the only one open to visitors, and Loor let herself in. The green curtain that blocked the rift rider from view was pulled tightly shut, the shadow of the girl working on it thrown by a working light. She was clearly too busy to notice someone had just walked in, so Loor made her presence known by knocking on one of the work benches outside. "Hello?"

There was the sound of tools slamming down. "Did Krew send another one and not tell me?" A voice that was clearly Keira's groused from behind the curtain. "Listen, I'm _not _looking for-"

"I'm not here to race." Lauren cut her off. "This is more personal business. I heard you were the lady to talk to when it comes to the older precursor stories and artifacts."

There was a moment's pause. "Maybe. Who told you?"

"Friend of a friend." She dodged. "Listen, I didn't show up to play twenty questions, I just have one. Do you know of any stories dealing with precursor artifacts that manipulate time? Something that would react to the presence of eco near instantly?"

Another pause. "Maybe. I'd have to look through my books again, but I'm a little busy right now."

"It's cool. I'll be around another time, I'm sure. I just wanted to ask the question and see if you'd be willing to help me out."

"What is it exactly that you're trying to do...?" The curiosity in her voice was overpowering.

"Reverse a mistake. Listen, the name's Loor. If you could find out what you can for me, that would be great."

A hand suddenly appeared through the curtain. "Gimme your comm. unit."

Loor didn't argue. Her hand vanished with it, coming back a moment later.

"I swapped contact info with you. I'll call you if I find anything, alright?"

"Beautiful." Loor responded, turning around to leave. "Be in touch." She said before turning her head with the rest of her body...

To find herself nearly face-to-face with Jak and Daxter. She stopped as not to run into them, putting on the breaks and then backing off a step. "Oh, hey." She giggled, going around him. "Sorry."

"What are you doing here?" Jak asked, clearly puzzled on how she kept popping up where ever he went. Daxter had his mouth open to ask the same, but snapped it shut.

"Personal stuff." She shrugged. "Don't worry, I didn't follow you."

"I didn't accuse you." He snickered. "Wait up for me, we'll drive back together."

"Done and done." She returned, smiling and walking out.

* * *

**The Author's Corner**

HOLY CRAP. I never expected a re-write to feel this good. Of course, this chapter is practically new, content wise. We get to learn things in the first book that, last time, I hadn't figured out till I was writing the third book. Sad, I know. But now, since I have a better sense of what I'm doing, second time around should be all the more amazing.

MEOW.

-Loor


	16. Competition

**CLEANED UP**

**Clean-up notes for this chapter: **Just some un-packing and filling things out a little bit more. More fun stuff to come in the future.

**Disclaimer: I don't own Jak and Daxter. **

**Vacation Or War  
****Chapter Sixteen- Competition**

Loor was humming to herself, hopping stairs as she went outside the garages to find her zoomer. She was suddenly hyper, bouncing about and happily skipping steps. She didn't really notice the smile on her face directly, but she knew for the moment she was quite pleased with the world.

Why? She had no idea, and wasn't going to analyze it. She was a creature that curled up in a room all day, writing code or playing games. Her nighttime habits were just as solitary, if not on the other end of the brain/body relationship. Happiness was brief moments of endorphins, happening when she finally finished a program, or owned a final boss, or pulled off a long chain of moves that had been giving her trouble for weeks. Such bursts ended quickly as she moved on to the next project in whatever she was doing. She was never satisfied.

But now she stood under a noon-time sun, practically grinning to herself while saddling up her zoomer that she left at the bottom of the stairs. Though she still wasn't completely satisfied with her combat performance so far, she wasn't dead, which was positive enough for the time being. It felt good to actually be a part of something, doing something, as dangerous as it was.

Looking up to the garage, she saw Jak and Daxter coming down the stairs and waved to get their attention. She got a wave back from the dynamic duo, and then Dax pointed to another zoomer on the other side of the square; they needed handlebars too. So while they trotted down the stairs, Loor picked her way over without running into any other vehicles or pedestrians, switching zones back and forth to avoid both. She got over just as the boys arrived, saddling up.

"I swear, her voice rings a bell!" Daxter insisted. "It's gonna drive me crazy, Jak."

The two had been mid-discussion.

"I don't know either, but you're right. Her voice _does_ sound familiar... but she clearly doesn't care for us."

"Doesn't care for _you." _Daxter smirked. "I doubt she even knew I was there with that curtain in place. Maybe that's why she's so sour; she needs some orange lovin' to loosen her up." Dax then turned to Loor, who was waiting patiently. "What did you need to talk to her about? Don't tell me Krew sent you up here to race too."

"Personal stuff." Loor repeated from before. "Vin's been trying to help me out in getting home, sent me this way to talk to that girl; apparently she knows her technology pretty well. I'm pulling as many strings as I can; I want outta here."

"Awe, is it that bad?" Dax cooed as Jak turned his zoomer to start leading the way back. "If you don't like teamin' up with us, you coulda said somethin'."

Loor wanted to bat the ottsel off of Jak's shoulder, but she restrained herself with the reminder that he was probably joking... her social barometer was too out of whack to actually tell, but she guessed he was joking. "You guys are just fine. It's the missions I have an issue with. I'm not used to sticking out my neck on a regular basis."

"Hey," Daxter's tone turned warm. "I hear ya. I _hate_ all the danger, but Jakkie-boy here... it's just never enough for him. Right partner?"

Jak was oddly quiet.

"Ugh," The ottsel groused. "Man, stop with the gloomy face!" He grabbed Jak's goggles, shaking his head by them. "We got a way up there, so quit brooding already!"

Loor already knew what they were talking about, but decided it was better to ask and not rouse their suspicions about how she was so knowledgeable. "What's going on?"

"That mechanic girl told us there might be a way up to the palace, aside from licking everyone in this town in the races." Dax explained as Loor pulled even with Jak, the two of them dropping down into the canals as to not have to worry about traffic. "Those towers around the palace that keep it upright? There's service elevators in them, but we need power."

"We figured Vin might be able to help us out." Jak finally added. "We'll be able to get there, hopefully without tripping too many alarms."

"What about getting back out?" Loor asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Haven't thought of that yet." The blond and green-haired hero shrugged. "I just want to get up there."

"Don't worry!" Daxter encouraged. "We'll get that Baron Praxis guy alright!"

Reminded of the end game, Loor stopped acting so much. She felt a hot jolt spark its way up her spine; the rage at her current condition. The fact that her worst fears had been brought to life on the orders of a single person.

She looked forward, glowering and her jaw tightening.

"Awe, c'mon, not you too Loor!" Dax protested, trying to keep morale up.

"I want him dead." Was all she said in defense. "I don't really care how, but the longer I spend out here... with..." She paused, aware that the guys knew exactly what she was talking about. "At first I wasn't really angry; I wasn't tortured, just used as a lab rat and put in a test tube. But the effects after the fact are torture enough... I want to rip him apart."

"And yet you're so eager to get home and away from this place." Daxter snickered. "What's gonna end up being more important?"

That question gave her pause, and the fact that it did frightened her. She knew Praxis died in the end, so why was she getting all bent out of shape? She should have said at once that home was most important, and that getting out of this hell hole was her first and only real objective...

But she didn't. She had to think about it, which was most disturbing.

"I'm... not sure..."

"Well, Praxis won't last long with the three of us after him." The ottsel boasted. "You'll get your shot when we find our way up there, won't she Jak?"

Jak was frowning, clearly uncomfortable, though he didn't say anything. Loor quickly realized what might have been upsetting him.

He wanted to take Praxis alone. It was his own personal vendetta, and though the night before he'd welcomed her to tag along in going after him, he was thinking about it more directly now. There was an actual chance that he'd be able to get up there and get a shot in on the guy that put him through all of that hell...

He didn't want a tag-along, someone who might take that shot from him.

Loor quickly jumped in. "Hey, Dax, you know how they say revenge is a dish best served cold?"

"Hm? Yeah, why?"

"Well, going with the food analogy, too many cooks spoil the broth. I wanna see Praxis dead, sure... but I don't think I'd be able to do it myself. I'll leave it to the professionals, eh?"

Jak looked to Loor, staring, surprised that she took the step down.

"Whoa, Jak, watch it!" Dax yelped, since distracted driving tends to lead people into walls. Jak twisted the handlebars quickly, stopping and nearly causing Loor to crash into him. Her reflexes were fine but it took her a moment to remember which part of the zoomer was the break. The three sat there for a moment, all looking at each other, before bursting out laughing. The tension finally lifted, and Loor decided she was feeling balls-y enough to challenge Jak to a race back to the underground.

She lost, of course, but it was still fun.

* * *

Upon returning to the underground, Torn was ready to send them away again. The tattooed wonder was clearly upset about something, pacing the area beyond the table with the maps, the lamp hanging from the ceiling swinging gently and making the light a little sporadic.

No one dared ask, but Daxter leapt to the table while looking up at the lamp as Jak and Loor stood aside.

"One of my old Guard comrades was sent into the pumping station." Torn finally broke, looking seriously at the duo of teens. Daxter, once again ignoring the gravity of the situation, was making funny faces as the light swayed back and forth, ignoring King Laryngitis. "There's been no word from her patrol, and after what you guys ran into out there, I'm afraid she might need some help."

"Did you say 'she'?" Jak asked.

"Don't even think about it!" Torn snapped as Loor elbowed the blond hero. She'd always wanted to do that, since Jak had Keira, even if he hadn't seen her in two years. The fact still stood that he wasn't in a totally clear position to be chasing other women.

Jak would have protested the treatment of his ribs, but Torn had finally decided Daxter was being too annoying for his own good. Grabbing the lamp and turning the light directly on the ottsel, he got into Dax's face and snarled. "Stop that! This is serious, you _moron!" _

Daxter lifted his hands into what looked sorta like a karate pose as Torn backed off, grinning. "_Whaa! _That's right! Don't mess with the sugar!"

Torn shook his head, getting back to business. "This 'friend' of mine has helped the underground many times before. Go back to the pumping station and take a look around, render assistance if needed." He then glowered at Dax again. "Now get your squirrelly ass outta here!"

Dax stuck his tongue out defiantly as Jak picked him up roughly, turning to leave. Loor was right behind him, stretching her shoulders while not looking forward to meeting Ashelin. She liked her for who she was; a badass action chick, but she was a badass action chick that ends up needing help twice in game and not being seen otherwise with a bust size bigger than her head.

Granted, Loor didn't have room to talk on that count anymore since the eco-spurred growth she'd gone through, but the fact still stood that unless a female character was shown doing something for herself, she was little more than a token character. Keira was shown with a great ability for machines that the guys didn't have, which made her truly useful. The boys wouldn't have gotten out of Sandover without her. Ashelin? She got in the way during the two missions you had with her. The most she made of herself was giving away some security passes.

"Lauren!"

The girl tripped, mid-mental rant as Torn called her out. She turned quickly, feeling herself flush up for tripping over her own feet, but also with the sudden hot fear that the tattooed wonder was about to send her off somewhere else by herself. "Y-yes?"

"I didn't hear great things about your last trip out there. Stick close to Jak, try not to risk yourself too much. You're not gonna have much time to learn if you don't live very long."

Loor went from anxious and embarrassed to insulted. Okay, she _hadn't_ done amazing on the last run, but it was her first time out, ever! She thought she deserved a _little _credit at least. She had her mouth open to snap at the guy, but Jak grabbed her arm and began dragging her to the door.

"Don't worry." Jak called back. "We'll take care of her."

"Wha-!" She growled, wanting to protest but allowing herself to be quietly pulled out of the underground. Jak let go once they got up to the street, chuckling at the look on her face.

"I think you did okay," Daxter offered, "if that helps at all."

Loor snorted, marching to her zoomer to saddle up. Jak had destroyed his on the way in, having sped straight into the alley and jettisoning from his zoomer before it smashed into the wall, where Loor had remembered her breaks and her affection for keeping her body in one piece. Not like Jak had needed to pull that stunt in the first place; he'd clearly been in the lead.

"That's just the thing." Jak was right next to her, though he was aimed to the outside of the alley to go find another vehicle. "Okay isn't good enough."

"Maybe I need a side-kick." Loor joked lamely. "Who knows, maybe that's what stands between the average person and being awesome."

"I can share Jak." Daxter snickered. "I'm not jealous."

She giggled, waving the two off to find their own ride while getting on her zoomer and waiting for them to come back. She did a quick check of her things, giving a tug to the weapon on her back and fluffing her hair back. Sitting astride the zoomer, she could smell the fact that she seriously needed another bath... and feel her need for a hairbrush. The raven colored cascade went past her shoulders and was fairly tangled after all the running about she'd been doing.

She started to vigorously scratch her scalp, annoyed with feeling so gunked up. She was just getting into it when...

"Hey, Loor! Let's get the lead out!"

She twitched, looking up to find Daxter calling her out and Jak waving her over from the back of a new, non-smashed zoomer. Turning and taking off, she blasted past them with a grin. It didn't matter if it was only a few minutes after their last race, Loor was always one for re-matches. It wasn't that she was a sore loser, but when it came to competing she'd keep trying till she won.

And of course, Jak was never one to turn down a challenge.

Flattened to her zoomer and navigating the streets of the slums, Loor was able to let go. She could forget the fact that she got ripped out of home and ejected into this backwards reality, lose her awareness of Lyra watching over her shoulder, and just concentrate on the lines she picked through the city and the wind in her face.

And Jak whipping by her like she was going slow, Dax taunting her.

Instead of yelling back, words that would be lost to air whipping by, she grinned and did her best to milk a little more speed out of the already whining engine of her vehicle. When it came to anything competitive, she was happy as long as no one took it easy on her. That way, when she won, it would be fair and square.

But she wasn't winning today. Not by a long shot.

* * *

**The Author's Corner**

Well, this one turned out a tad short, but I've learned I should never force myself to fill out length. Icky writing results. I'm honestly not looking forward to Ashelin, but something I am looking forward to is coming up, so I'll just deal with it.

MEOW!

See you next time punks,

-Loor


	17. Ashelin

**CLEANED UP**

**Clean up notes for this chapter: **I've learned, as a writer, I get really bored describing the missions we've all played through. We all get the geist of it, right? Go here, kill this metal head, hop up this thing, kill that metal head, cut-scene. I find all the 'process' stuff that doesn't actually contain useful information on how Loor is developing, or if someone gets horribly damaged, is needless and gets filed under 'goop.' I don't like goop. The content of this chapter got a through hose-down.

**Disclaimer: I don't own Jak and Daxter. I'm not making any money off of fanfiction. **

**Vacation Or War  
****Chapter Seventeen- Ashelin**

The pumping station hadn't changed much since Loor was last there, but for the fact that it was now evening instead of morning.

Oh, that and new metal heads had infested the area. She'd seen crabheads on her last trip, the large and lumbering creatures that Sig had gone after with his peacemaker, but they had been far away. Not they were on her level, giant legs of hard bone digging into the sand of the beach leading up to the pumping station, weaving in and out of a few prowling juice goons.

This time she moved to the trees herself to hide and check out what they had to deal with, Jak right with her. They both had their weapons drawn already, and she'd spent the time in the air lock trying to psyche herself up so she wouldn't freeze like a deer in the headlights again. She couldn't afford to do that as the stakes grew, and God himself help her, she wasn't going to hide behind Jak and let him take care of everything.

Eying the crab heads, she got an idea and made a move to go. At once Jak caught her shoulder, glaring at her. "Where the hell are you going?" He growled at her.

"Going to go kill some metal heads. Got a problem with it?" She was glaring back, since she had actually been concentrated and looking forward to finally pulling something off for real.

"Yeah. It's called teamwork, you ever heard of it?"

She snarled, her body turning tense. "I don't need you to look after me. I'm not your wet nurse, and you're not my shield."

"Lady," Daxter broke in. "We're all partners here. We're supposed to look out for each other so no one goes home in a box."

Loor snorted, still raring to go and her anger at Torn saying she needed to be protected simply fueling the fire. Her boot pawed at the ground, the need to move driving into her brain.

But Daxter was right. Loor had no wish to join Fury.

"Fine." She grunted, settling back as well as she could, still kicking at the sand.

Jak nodded at her, taking another look out to asses the situation before firing off three quick shots on the blaster, the animals on the other end of the beach screaming as one of their number tumbled into the sand. Both teens dove out of the cover at that, since their presence had been quite clearly announced. Loor saw the crabhead that had been taken down, and the juice goons that were bounding over the fallen creature to get at them. She hesitated, watching as Jak dove ahead and opened fire on the other crabhead that was still the most dangerous thing there with the ability to shoot at long range. She felt the fact that she knew how to swing, but her body had locked up, fearful to dive right in.

Then came the heat, sparks up her back that made her jump in, swinging at the first juice goon she could reach and bellowing. Fear was wildly discarded as she felt like she were home again, playing her pretend games for combat practice in her back yard. She struck vertically at a beast, ripping from it's gut and up, blood splattering as the blade of her weapon hooked on the ribcage and then broke through, wrenching with both hands to fling the animal away and turn to the next adversary.

Another juice goon, trying to strike at her, roaring while extending the glowing end of the staff it carried. She snarled right back, flipping a quick spin to knock the weapon away and then taking her stave in both hands, putting it to the sand as she kicked out at the metal head to daze it, one last flurry of her weapon whipping out like a helicopter blade to slice the creature across the neck.

That's when the third one hit her in the back. The jolt was painful, making her muscles seize and shorting out her brain for a few precious moments. She hadn't been thinking about the next one; to be honest she hadn't been thinking at all. Now she had to get her head back together before something bit her...

She felt another strike, likely the butt end of the staff, against her head as she staggered to stay upright and turn around. It was right behind her, winding up for another blow, fangs displayed in a insane grin.

She dropped her shoulder and dove in to tackle it to the ground, rolling to the side and plunging one blade of her weapon into its chest, making the killing blow. She was panting, eager to go after something else, standing up and finding the beach disappointingly quiet. Jak was standing, waiting for her, as Daxter looked a tad frightened of the display she'd just given.

That's when her brain came back. What had just happened? Before she'd been too busy thinking that such combinations would be beyond her ability; but this time she'd just acted.

She shivered at the snap of eco jolting on her spinal cord. Of course; Lyra wasn't shut out this time. The beast must have decided to 'help' her by toning down the fear reaction and higher brain function, triggering a type of battle rage. It had helped her get into the game, but she'd also gotten so crazy that she hadn't noticed the third metal head and gotten hit. Her back felt as if scalding water had just been dumped on it.

"You okay?" Jak asked as she walked up, signaling she was ready to move on.

"Alright." She answered, shrugging.

"You're not too bad with that thing, toots." Dax complemented. "What was up with you the other day when you could hardly swing that stick?"

"Shock, I guess. I'm getting into it now." She gestured ahead. "Shall we?"

The boys nodded, Jak leading the way as Daxter hunkered down on his shoulder once more. Loor followed, though carefully as she dared slip into her own psyche for a moment.

_What are you doing up there?_

_**Keeping your ass out of the fire. What else? You talk big, but when it comes to actual action, you hesitate. I had to make you break through or you'd totally whimp out till something hit you first. **_

_I did just fine last time!_

_**But there's more of them this time... not to mention they're more dangerous than those grunts. These bad boys have weapons. Now keep your head on straight, or I'll have to take over and do it for you.**_

Another burn of sparks, this time spreading over most of her body, reminded Loor that she'd adsorbed eco from all three of the metal heads she'd gone after, and Lyra was nearing the point where she could use it for transformation. As Jak stopped to scope out another group of metal heads, Loor tried to remember what it was like to change over. It had been painful, leaving the conscious world and coming back. Worse, it ripped a hole in her memory, an abrupt black space that made her want to beat her forehead against a wall till it cleared.

"Baby, you sure you're okay?" Daxter asked, noting the look on her face as she came by them to hide. "Looks like you've seen a ghost."

"Something like that." She managed a weak smile and a thumbs up. "I'm cool. Let's just move. Knowing the KG, that friend of Torn's is gonna need our help. Better find her before she gets munched, right?"

Jak nodded, not taking on Loor's humor. "Let's hope for the best." Was all he said.

* * *

Loor wasn't sure if she was thankful for Lyra's assists or loathe to allow such intrusions upon her psyche by the time she and the trouble twins had made it to a high point within the pumping station. They'd just battled their way through another group of monsters, and her memories within fights were starting to blur, as if she were losing more and more control. She didn't like trusting Lyra to lead her in the right direction, but she'd made a deal with the creature in her head. She couldn't shove Lyra off; she'd given her word.

Wiping her forehead clean of blood splatter, she briefly envied Jak's fairly clean condition. Taking care of things from a long range meant he didn't get very messy. His hand were dirty from purposely adsorbing eco from metal heads, but the rest of him was pretty pristine... aside from sweat and such.

Daxter had managed to avoid all signs of wear, noting they were alone for the moment on their grand search of the pumping station and jumping down to the ground. Jak was scanning left and right; they hadn't seen any sign of Torn's friend, but Loor knew that the red-headed woman was likely hiding out somewhere, watching them search for her. Recognizing the lay of the land, she dawdled behind the boys in expectation of the up and coming scene.

She also kept her weapon drawn, where Jak momentarily holstered his. Daxter bounded ahead a few paces before turning back to Jak. "Ehhh, what the heck are we doing risking our lives to rescue some old Krimzon Guard hag anyway?" The ottsel complained, hunching slightly to lift one of his legs and scratch at his cheek like a dog. "She's probably got more facial hair than me!"

Loor watched as a woman suddenly appeared from another cliff above, leaping down and grabbing Jak, yanking him into a headlock and jamming a pistol against his temple. "Who the hell are you guys?" She snarled. Jak, having been caught off guard, simply raised his hands a little bit.

Hello Ashelin.

Loor tensed on her own weapon, but didn't whip it forward, left with her own inhibitions for the moment. Lyra knew, like she did, that this was meant to happen. The animal had occupied a lot of her recent 'free' time in searching Lauren's memories.

Daxter, as usual, ignored the apparent peril his partner was in and focused on Ashelin's extremely large cup size. "_Mmm..._ I do love a woman in uniform! Wanna bark some orders at me? Woof, woof!" He leapt up to her, nearly standing on Jak's face. "I'm your soldier on the front lines of _looove!" _He then hopped back to ground, also ignoring Ashelin rolling her eyes. "Waiter, foxhole for two!"

Finally releasing Jak, she squared off and aimed at Daxter. "Keep talking and I'll raise your voice a couple octaves."

Jak, a much more caring partner, intervened before Dax was Bob-Barker-ed. "Easy... Torn asked us to help you."

"Wallflower included?" Ashelin gestured to Loor, citing the fact that the girl had been pretending to be invisible, just watching. "I don't need help..." She paused, turning her head slightly at the sound from the cliff she'd just leapt from; something was moving about in the brush up there. "But you might. We've got company."

Jak looked over and drew his weapon back out as a variety of metal heads began to tumble out of the brush, some leaping down to the sandy plateau but others crashing. Loor was ready to be right there with them, but felt that heat at her back again. Lyra taking away her fear for herself, restricting her ability to think about the situation and pushing the fight or flight function of the body. She growled this time, upset at the invasion of her mind. It was her brain, not Lyra's playground, and certainly not a thing to be toying with during a fight with comrades. What if she stupidly struck a friendly?

_No._

She felt cold spur from the word, her usual logical calm that she liked to face the world with taking back what was hers, making her more comfortable in running into the fire and picking her kills carefully, out of the way of Jak and Ashelin and their firing range. At first she felt good that she'd drawn a line and Lyra had backed down without a fight...

When the truth broke through, shattering her calm like glass. Lyra had enough eco, and Loor had no mental defense up to block her. Her rage at being controlled came briefly before Lauren lost awareness of her body, her senses going quickly, given over to something else.

Lyra took her place in the world, dropping Loor's weapon and pouncing on the closest metal head, claws first. An explosion of eco had flashed out, knocking back the monsters all around and alerting Jak to the change with the thick tang of eco on the air. Ashelin was sure to notice the glow, and perhaps the spark, but now was not the time to question it. There were too many things that wanted to eat them all right now to worry about the fact that one of the humans in the group had just turned into something with fangs and claws.

The darkening evening had provided the perfect light for Lyra's eyes, and with all of her senses unhindered she was deadly accurate. She first followed the lure of eco, her living essence, firing off excess in waves of destruction before turning and wrestling a creature larger than herself by at least three times to the ground, ripping it apart in the process. Then she began picking and choosing, going after groups of smaller creatures and then taking a large one that had become singled out. There was no active thought, just rushes of endorphins that told her one thing.

She was having fun. She need not know what fun was, or why she was having it, but she gained a strange pleasure out of what she did. This world, this ability to interpret it through her host's body, the ability to manipulate it, all left her quite elated and craving for more.

But the bursts of activity, the waves of eco she'd let off in offense, also left her exhausted. She wanted to roar in protest as she felt her control slipping, as she'd taken out the last of the hostile creatures and had set her sights on something else.

The male. Jak. He knew where she was, looking at her in the darkness. Such a tight face he made; almost angry, disapproving of her existence, but there was also concern. Surely for her host.

In her last moment of control, she gave him a toothy grin.

"What the hell was that about?" The red headed woman asked, turning her hostile green eyes on Jak, holstering her pistol. "I know about the program, but the only escapee they told me about was male."

Jak walked over to where Lauren had reverted, passed out on the ground, and making sure she was okay. Her breathing was slow, almost struggling, but alright. He then looked up to Ashelin. "Does that look male to you?" He quipped, turning to find her discarded weapon in the dark. "She escaped when Errol was injured."

"Are you in league with the other one too?"

Everyone felt it as she asked the question; the tension in the air. The fact that something had gone off track and needed to be put back on immediately. Jak reacted to it but shutting down, picking up Loor's weapon and turning to face this uppity woman. "I don't know, depends who's asking." This would be military for: 'I am not going to answer that question because I don't know whose side you're on.'

Clearly suspicious, she still backed off and turned to a shuttle that had been set down under some trees. She hopped up, beginning the process of starting it up as Jak returned Loor's weapon to the holster on her back and picked the girl up in a fireman's carry. Her breathing had evened, but she was clearly out for the count.

Daxter's ability to be a complete dumbass... wasn't. He jumped down as Jak picked Loor up, deciding now was time to make his move. "Hey, watching me take care of those metal heads was pretty exciting, wasn't is sugar?" He said while following the woman to her vehicle.

She responded to Daxter by staring the shuttle, the sudden blast of air knocking the ottsel back. Still, the orange fuzzy would not be deterred. "Hey, sweet stripes!" He shouted over the roar. "Gimme them digits so I can look you up sometime! We'll party hard, big city style!"

The woman looked beyond Daxter to Jak. "Tell Torn that Baron Praxis is planning something big. I think it as to do with that symbol." She gestured to the side where a podium stood with a bronze symbol on the top.

"What is it?" Jak strained over the engine too, though not as much as his partner.

"It's the seal of the house of Mar, the founder of Haven City. We're being sent out on 'suicide missions' to locate artifacts from the time of his rule." She dropped down into the cockpit of her cruiser, reaching into the pocket made between her breasts by her bra. "If curiosity's worth dying for, you can ask the blind old soothsayer in the bazaar named Onin. She might know something about all this." She then tossed the item she pulled out to Jak, who hadn't the hands to catch it. Daxter successfully retrieved it though, flipping the little thing open; it was a type of ID pass. "That's my bazaar access security pass."

Jak could see the name from where Daxter was holding it, and looked up again. "Your name's Ashelin, huh?"

The cruiser began to gain some height off of the ground as she began to take off, aiming to go back to the city. "We're even now."

"Wow! What a woman!" Daxter grinned from his place on the ground, giving off a growl. He then scaled Jak's side, putting the pass into his friend's pouch before deciding the best way to ride along was to drape himself across Loor's shoulders. "What now?"

Jak shrugged, turning to go back the way they had come. "Onin will wait till tomorrow morning. Let's get back to the underground."

"She made it sound all morbid..." Daxter sighed. "But we gotta know what Praxis is up to with we're gonna screw with him... I just hate sticking my neck out for anything!"

"Besides women." Jak noted with a chuckle.

* * *

**The Author's Corner**

Holy wow! This came out a bit faster than I thought it was going to. Having some fun with Loor's split mental condition, and her obvious issues in combat. She's been training for years, but it's all by her lonesome, so without the rage at being struck first she doesn't got the push to actually do anything. I've got the same problem in the real world; I've got all the practice in the world on the proper form of how to throw a punch, and I do lots of exercise with my practice weapon, but unless I'm royally pissed off I just don't have enough drive to actually hit someone. It actually feels like I'm being held back by something physical.

So much fun when I can draw parallels between my character and I.

Next chapter... I get to have some fun. -evil laugh-

Please review!

-Loor


	18. Taking Time Out

**Vacation or War**  
**Chapter Eighteen- Taking Time Out**

Loor awoke to the feeling of someone taking her shoes off for her. Her first instinct at the feel of unknown hands was to kick out, sitting up quickly and forcing herself back into the world of the living. Her head throbbed as she sat upright, even more so as she opened her eyes and saw that she was back at the underground. How she'd gotten there, she wasn't sure. She remembered pushing Lyra off for messing with her head, and then...

Another hole, like the one in her memories from when she saw the oracle.

Her eyes focused on Jak, who had been trying to get her boots off so she didn't rip her bed up with the spikes on the toes. Of course, she'd almost nailed him with one of those spikes when she kicked. Realizing she could have poked his eye out, she yanked her feet back while looking down. "Sorry! I... I'm sorry... I tend to jerk when I wake up..."

He shrugged, standing up. "You looked like you were out for the night, so I figured you'd be more comfortable..." He trialed off, shrugging. "It's alright. I'd probably kick too if I woke up to someone screwing with my stuff."

"How did it...?" She paused while reaching to re-secure her boot. Now that she was awake she wanted to walk around a little. She wasn't tired just yet, even if her muscles were terribly sore. "I mean, I can't remember, so..." She let out a sharp sigh, shoving herself into the question she wanted to ask. "I didn't hurt anyone, did I?"

He shook his head no. "She burnt herself out pretty quick. I was a little surprised that you let her go around a stranger in the KG."

"I..." Lauren didn't want to admit that Lyra had mentally mowed her over, and stood up quickly. "I'm going for a walk." She announced to avoid the conversation, turning and aiming for the door. She noted on the way out that both Daxter and Torn were sleeping; just how late was it? Did Jak have as much trouble sleeping as she did, and suddenly thought to try and make her more comfortable just because he had nothing better to do?

Well, that made the whole situation slightly less awkward, but awkward none the less. She rejoiced when she got outside to the night air, glad to get a few seconds alone...

"I'm coming with."

Jumping and pulling a one-eighty, she looked back to find Jak had been right on her tail. She felt the urge to whine at him, but decided it would likely be useless. Instead she dismissed him with a grunt, turning forward and walking briskly to try and save face.

"You didn't let her... did you?"

She turned her head to find him walking next to her, keeping pace. "What's got you so talkative all of the sudden?"

"Dax ain't here to talk over me. Calm down a little, would you? Breathing isn't going to kill you."

She was tempted to pout, but decided that would only prove his point that she was being uptight. He was likely concerned about her dealings with her darker self because he was experiencing something quite similar. Perhaps he hoped to advise her in coping with the creature in her head. "Yeah... she forced her way through... I wasn't ready for it."

"It looked like she was screwing with you for the whole mission."

"I've only fought in anger before... to suddenly try and summon up that type of killer attitude on command... I felt like I was literally being held back by invisible straps. I had it for a moment all on my own, before you stopped me with your little 'teamwork' lecture... She took away my inhibitions, but I was afraid to trust her with restricting my higher brain function... so I told her no."

"Why don't you have her locked down?"

"Promised I wouldn't." She crossed her arms. "She... likes to experience the world. I didn't like arguing with her, so I made a deal."

"You..." He seemed quite skeptic of her. "Trying to make peace with a monster... It's not going to work. Corruption is just in dark eco's nature; she's going to try and destroy you whether you're nice to her or not."

"I... I guess so..." She frowned. "But it looks like the only way I can really fight is with her help. It's a shitty catch 22."

He didn't say anything at once, but then suddenly turned down another street. "C'mon."

"Eh?" She stopped short, confused. Last she checked, she was taking a walk, and he was following. Not the other way around.

"I got somewhere I wanna go." He only slowed, not stopping. "C'mon."

She hesitated a moment more, and then trotted after him. "Where?" She asked.

"You'll see." He assured, flashing her a small smile.

She growled; she hated when people wouldn't tell her stuff straight up when she asked. Still, she followed as he led from the slums to the industrial section, curious as to exactly where they were going as the few turns he took aimed them towards the port strip.

Loor had to noticed that the port strip was actually quite a sight at night; the stars were bright enough to overcome the lights, and again the moon was the single familiar thing in the sky, reminding her of home and reflecting on the dark water. She became quite taken with the scene, blindly following Jak as he led along the edge of the port. She began trying to figure out if there was any pattern to the colorful stars in the sky when he stopped. Since she wasn't paying attention, she crashed into him.

"Oof!" She backed off a step, looking at him. "Where are we...?" She began to say, but then looked to her other side. The unmarked door with the single lamp above it told her exactly where they were. "What? Seriously?" She asked as he walked for the door to enter the gun course. "You drug me because you decided you wanted to get some shooting practice in?"

"No." He answered once she followed him inside, the door closing on its own. "I drug you down here for _you_ to practice."

She felt like beating his head in, growling and planting her feet. "How many times have I told you? I can't shoot! I don't, I can't, and I'm not going to. Period."

"Shooting is a lot easier because it's not up close and personal." He reasoned with her. "It'll help you ease into this whole... war-zone thing. You'll have a choice if you can't push yourself into kill mode."

"I figure immersion will be good enough." Her voice grew more hostile. "I'm a melee person; hand-to-hand stuff. It's what I'm good at, it's what I've practiced, it's what I'm doing." She then turned on her heel to try and leave. "I don't have time for this shit-"

He caught her shoulder, suddenly smirking again. "Alright... I'll make you a deal then. A challenge."

She paused, curious of what he could possibly throw at her. She was angry that he kept trying to push her into this, even if it was through concern for her well-being, but a challenge was something that always gave her pause. Particularly from a guy; she was all about proving herself against gender-biases. "You have my attention."

He pulled her back into the room, pulling his gun from his holster and putting it the side, leaning it against the wall. She also noticed he put something else down, but she didn't catch what because he turned right back to her. "You're a hand-to-hand type person?" He asked. "Fine. Wrestle me to the ground."

"What?" She couldn't help the surprise in her tone. The idea of even touching him was something she still had issues getting her head around; the thought of trying to bear him to the floor was even more difficult.

"You heard me." He was smiling now. "Wrestle me to the ground, and I'll never bother you about the shooting thing again. Promise. If I pin you, you have to let me teach you, and try the gun course. Deal?"

She thought about it before answering. Jak had to weigh more than her, and was an inch or two taller. Still, she had been wrestling with people bigger than her for as long as she had elder siblings, which was her whole life (duh). She'd never doubted her ability to pin a person, but it still felt like a huge waste of time. If she lost, it would be an even bigger waste of time.

But if she chickened out, she was just another girl, too scared to take on a guy. Usually she was pissed off because guys weren't willing to seriously fight her on the grounds that she was a girl. Now here was a guy, ready to take her down, and she was thinking of backing off?

Fuck no.

"Deal." She grinned. "No boots though. Mine are dangerous, and if I gotta take mine you better take yours off to make the traction fair."

He snickered, complying as she went to un-clip herself and step out of her footwear. They both tossed their things away, Loor having taken off her socks too since Jak just had his feet wrapped up in bandages. She'd take any grip she could get on the cold stone floor.

She didn't wait for him to say go, launching herself at him and reaching to take his shoulders and yank him around. He deflected her though, easily taking her by the arms and pulling her around him with one leg thrown out make her lose her footing. She knew that move though, hooking one ankle at his knee and yanking, throwing her weight to bring him down with her.

She landed on top of him, trying to lock her knees around his legs and get her arms back from him, but he was yet to let go of her, and he was stronger than she thought. She gritted her teeth, trying to hold him and yanking back from him with her whole body. All she managed to do was let him sit up, yanking her arms and upper body towards the floor and letting go to stick and elbow in her back.

It hurt, but she didn't let him know, getting her hands under her chest and throwing her shoulder into his side, still clinging to his legs as he tumbled over, twisting around him to try and pin his arms to his sides at the elbows.

That's when he kicked free of her legs. He'd been holding back! He let her have his arms, but then shoved her flat on her back by basically laying on top of her.

Her muscles were burning; after a few days she wasn't even a little ready for something like this. But still she kicked and squirmed, refusing to completely give up. The truth was is that as long as she held him, and as long as she was on her back, she wouldn't be able to get up. All of her mobility was based on being able to have at least one appendage under her to maneuver the rest of her. Her core muscles lacked the power to throw him to either side on their own.

With one last desperate cry, she let go. She'd run out of power. He didn't waste any time getting off of her, turning and offering a hand with an overly smug smile. "Not so bad."

"You've got me beat in brute strength." She sighed, taking the hand because she hadn't the strength to get up on her own. She didn't bother making excuses as to why she lost, or complaining about her poor physical condition. Instead she brushed herself off and said, "This deal only stands till I'm strong enough to beat you."

He snickered at her competitive attitude. "Whatever makes you happy. I think that'll be enough time to teach you a thing or two." He then went to where he'd put his gun, also where he'd thrown his boots, to put them back on and slip the morph gun back into its holster. He then picked up the extra item he'd been carrying.

Loor saw it now, as she was strapping back into her own boots.

One of Fury's pistols. She had to assume it was the one that had run out of ammo. The other one had malfunctioned in some way. The pistol was still in a holster meant to be strapped to a person's leg, but Jak drew it out for the moment to give to her. "I had Torn load it for you. It takes yellow eco slugs, like the blaster mod for my morph gun."

She finished strapping up and slowly took the weapon. First she felt remorse for the last person who had held the weapon, but then she looked at him with an eyebrow raised. "You were planning this, weren't you? You figured I'd go for a walk when I woke up..."

"Maybe..." He shrugged again, the look on his face quite playful now. "I didn't know when you'd go for another walk, just that you would sooner or later."

"Alright, alright..." She tried to relax a little, switching the weapon into her right hand where it was more comfortable. She'd never handled a pistol before; only long barreled guns that she had to tuck up against her shoulder to hold against the kick.

Jak could see she was holding it like she had no freakin' clue what to do with it, and came to help her out. "Straight arm, keep your wrist up. Don't let it slump." He advised while grabbing her arm and helping her position. He then went around her to a box on the wall; the manual controls for the shooting range. She wasn't sure what he was doing at first till a cardboard cut-out of a metal head popped up out of one of the two slits on the floor on the far side of the room. "So... how far do you figure you were from Errol when you shot him?"

"Maybe two feet?" She chuckled nervously, looking at the cut-out he'd obviously called up for her to use as target practice. "I still missed... I was aiming for his legs."

"Where'd you hit him?"

She hesitated a moment more before firing off a slug. The pistol kicked a little bit, but not as much as she expected it to. A hole appeared in the cut-out, low and to the left. "In the leg."

"Aim a little higher." He coached. "Best to aim for the biggest part of the body when you're not such a great shot, so go for the chest."

"I didn't wanna kill him, just cripple him." She defended. "I... I didn't want that on my hands."

He paused. "I was talking about right now."

She felt herself turning red, squeezing off a few more shots to try and distract from her embarrassment at the simple misunderstanding, hitting high and to the right, a little lower than that, and the third shot missing completely and scorching the wall.

"Why didn't you wanna kill him?"

"I wasn't tortured like you. I was put out and left in a test tube. Wasn't awake, wasn't in pain... didn't even see Errol's face till I woke up and tried to make a break for it." She fired again, trying to correct her favoring of the right side and ending up missing to the left of the cut-out. "It was like a nightmare, but I've never killed anyone. Hospitlized a few, but never killed. When I'm not looking at him, now living with the effects of what was done to me... I feel like I could, but face to face, I don't know."

He came back to her, crossing the room behind her and helping her with her position again. "Relax a little. You're over compensating. Don't try to aim it all perfect; outside you won't have time. Learn to fire quickly from the hip."

"Is that what you're doing all the time?" She giggled. "Wow, you're either a lot better than I thought, or just plain lucky."

He gave her a nudge. "You got six more shots. Don't aim, just point and shoot."

She tried to take her eyes off of the blade and notch that was the general aiming system of most firearms, lining herself up and pulling the trigger, letting the rest of the bullets fly in quick succession. The first four had managed to make a perfect arc over the cut-out's head, but the last two scored hits down the center, in the head and chest.

He grinned, patting her shoulder and showing her how to release the clip and replace it. "See, you don't fail that hard. We'll fill this one full of holes and then you can give the actual course a shot."

"You're kidding, right?" She shoved her elbow into his ribs. "Here's betting you can do head-shots with the whole clip without even trying."

"Yeah, but that's me. You just worry about you." He then walked away from her again, going behind her where she didn't bother to turn her head and see. Instead she tried to do the whole next clip 'firing from the hip' as Jak put it. Only half of her shots hit, but that might have been because her hands were shaking a bit. She'd put her left hand under the butt of the gun to try and stabilize her right arm, but there she was getting tired. It had been a long ass day, and the exhaustion was finally catching up to her.

Not that she'd quit; Jak had already beaten her once; she had to buck up for the rest of the night, no matter how much her body ached at the idea.

She'd just finished the clip when he approached her again with the holster. "Are you more comfortable reaching across or down?" He asked.

"Um..." She attempted reaching across, but the fact that she had breasts prevented her from doing so smoothly or easily. Not that she said that, she just practiced reaching down right after reaching across, nodding. "Down."

He nodded, getting her to hold the weapon at her side and then placing the holster appropriately according to her reach. He only placed it, making her do up the straps and then practice putting it away and taking it out a few times. They both partook in breaking the crates in the room for ammo, and she tucked a few clips into her belt pouch. He also showed her how to hook some of them onto the belt itself for easy access.

He also noticed by now that her whole body was shaking.

"Ready?" He asked, prepared for her to complain of exhaustion and back down.

"Sorta... gotta do it either way. Never know what tomorrow might throw at us, right?"

He snickered, pleasantly surprised. "Right." He then gave her a nudge towards the big doors for the gun course, going back to the control panel to open it up for her. She flashed him a weak smile before going in.

She didn't do great, but it was a good start. Expanding her arsenal would give her a better chance of surviving this mess.

He didn't know where the hell she was from, or even if she would be able to go back with all the difficulty she was having, but he felt that she at least deserved the chance to get there. He knew what it was like to be ripped from home and put into a world he hardly knew; he was sympathetic to her, but he wasn't going to go out of his way to protect her. No, it was better to give her the tools to protect herself.

Anyway, she didn't seem the type to let some _guy_ protect her.


	19. Looming Death

**CLEANED UP**

**Clean up notes for this chapter: **The meeting with Onin was heavily edited, since I felt what happened with her was very in-your-face and blunt. This also gives us some foreshadowing on a very big event that happens in the future... -evil grin-

**Disclaimer: I don't own Jak and Daxter or any related copyrights. I am not making any money off of this work of fanfiction.**

**Vacation Or War  
****Chapter Nineteen- Looming Death**

Loor had slept in her clothes, not even taking off her boots when she and Jak returned to the underground from the gun course. She hadn't done particularly well, but she hadn't done terribly either, and by the time they were done she was beyond caring; she just wanted to crash. And crash she did, falling into bed and sleeping like a rock.

Jak had to chuckle at her before going to bed himself; she acted big, but she looked so small and frail.

Because of the late night both of them had, Daxter was the first one awake the next morning. He hadn't beaten Torn, of course, but his partners were still catching as many Zs as they could before something else came down the pipe. Still, Dax wasn't one to wait, and the longer they hung out the more likely Torn would decide they needed to be doing something useful to the movement and send them out on some mission or another.

So the ottsel got up from the pillow he slept on, stretched, and made the leap across to Jak's bunk, carefully crawling around his partner and giving his shoulder a push. At first it garnered no reaction, but after several shakes the blond hero started to stir, groaning and rolling over. Daxter, now crawling on top of him, wasn't giving up. "C'mon partner, rise and shine. How late were you up last night?"

Jak growled some nonsense into his pillow before lifting his head, rolling the other way to knock Dax off again, nearly rolling right on top of him. "Hey, hey! Don't crush me! Jeez, sleepy head... Fine, I'll go and try the cute one." With that the ottsel slung himself over the side of the bunk, sighting Loor laying on her side on top of her blanket, letting go and landing on her.

The girl instantly reacted by sitting straight up in bed, twisting in the direction Dax had come from, and firing out with a yelp as if someone was attacking her. She'd flung Daxter off in the process, left alone on her bed to blink at the empty space that she'd just tried to start a fight with.

From the end of the room, with the table and the maps, Torn looked up just long enough to roll his eyes.

Daxter crawled back up from where he'd been thrown to the floor. "Jeez! Having a nightmare, toots?"

"Not that I remember..." She stretched her arms up over her head, shaking her head while realizing she was still in her clothes. She felt like an even bigger mess than the day before; crusty with dried metal head blood. "I just wake up fast, and sometimes I lash out..." Glancing up she noted Torn, and the absence of a certain blond. "Where's Jak? Wouldn't you wake him first?"

"I tried." The ottsel turned to curl up on Loor's pillow. "Nearly squished me when he rolled over."

Loor snickered at him while standing up. "Well, you're kinda easily squished." She then stood up on her own mattress to peek her head up over the top bunk and see Jak still snoozing away like a bear. She, like Dax, reached out and took his shoulder, though she was able to shake him much more effectively. "Hey Jakkie-boy, up!" She barked.

Again he attempted to roll away, but she didn't let him, yanking him back and pushing half of her upper body over the rail to thump his chest with an open hand. "Hey, _felpelz!" _She called, briefly switching into German, calling him lazybones. "_Auf und uber!" _

"Speak English..." He grumbled, finally beginning to sit up while putting a hand over where she hit him.

"Why should I, when I know so many other languages to pester you with?" She snickered, dropping down once she verified he wasn't going to just lay down again. She was already dressed, so there wasn't much to do as she waited for him to wake himself up and come down. Daxter scuttled up to her shoulder as they both waited, Jak eventually coming down.

Torn was still ignoring them all to death, so Jak led the way out as Daxter switched back to his usual shoulder. He was looking back at Loor as they got up to the street, and then noticed something new about her. "Hey, you got a gun!" The ottsel proclaimed.

"Yeah, Jak insisted." She giggled while shrugging. "Turns out I just had to try a little... I'm not great, but I ain't terrible."

"Now I don't have to worry about having to charge in and rescuing you from biting off more than you can chew." Dax grinned. "So where to first? There was the blind lady Ashelin mentioned we might wanna go see, but Vin's the one whose gonna fix our power problems."

"Onin." Jak mentioned, remembering the name they'd been given. "I would say her first; if Vin gets the power going for us, I'm going to want to go straight up there. Better to get everything else out of the way."

"To the bazaar!" Loor announced with a sudden burst of energy, taking off to get the zoomer on the corner before Jak could. She beat him for the head start she had, and the fact that he was still waking up. Didn't matter to her; she'd take the victories where she could get them. "Keh, my zoomer! Go find your own."

"What's gotten into you?" Jak asked with a raised eyebrow, clearly skeptic of her suddenly bouncy mood. "Attitude adjustment?"

"No adjustment." She started the zoomer up to follow him as he kept walking in search of a ride for himself. "Just the fact that I'm not dead yet. Can't a girl be happy about that?"

"Sure, but the boys ain't gonna be happy till you find herself a bath, sweet cheeks." Daxter was leaning on Jak's head, facing Loor as Jak sighted another zoomer and began walking for it. "Fighting up close and personal has made a mess outta you."

She turned sheepish, looking down. "I know... I'm not happy about it either, but I have no idea where to go looking for a shower. I mean, there was the safe house that took me right after I left the fortress, but the lady of the house was investigated right after I left. I'd hate to attract negative attention to her just because I wanted a bath."

"I was just joking, love." Daxter looked a little guilty for making her feel bad. "I haven't bathed in months!"

"And the smell is something lethal." Jak teased, finally waking up and some of his ability to be humorous returning.

"Ack! Jak, don't say that in front of girls, or I can't blame it on you!"

Lauren couldn't help giggling at the two of them as Jak saddled up on the zoomer he'd selected off the streets. She was comfortable with driving now, and she knew the map like the back of her hand, so she got going and took the lead. Jak didn't question her, just pulling along side her.

"There's a smile!" Daxter rejoiced. "It's one thing when Jakkie-boy gets pouty, but I hate to see a lady frown."

"Usually because it's the last thing you see before getting whacked upside the head." Jak snickered.

"Jeez!" Dax complained, leaping over to Loor's shoulder once more and draping across her neck like a scarf. "So hostile this morning! If you don't like it, I'll just hang out with Loor here. You love me, right baby?"

Loor wasn't sure it was her place to be joining into this bicker-fest between the boys, but decided she didn't care, scratching Daxter between the ears and giggling. "Sure I do. But the second I find a place to bathe, you're getting a scrub-down too. If you ever get a date I assume you won't be taking Jak along, and then who would you blame the smell on?"

Both of the teens chuckled as Daxter made an indigent noise, but didn't remove himself from Loor's neck. Apparently he was comfortable, having nuzzled himself under her blanket of black hair.

Navigating from the slums to the industrial section, and then entering the vehicle ramp through the bazaar, Jak was growing curious on just how Loor knew her way. She hadn't looked at her comm. to consult her map, and it looked as if she were hardly paying attention to the roads she was taking. She said that she was from outside the city, and hadn't even known how to start a zoomer a few days ago. Now she looked perfectly happy in traffic, weaving her way between slow moving drivers.

He filed it away as something to ask about later. He liked the fact that she was smiley for the moment and didn't want to drag her mood down by asking questions, which seemed to be something that put her on the defense. It was also that the moment he decided not to ask, she ditched her zoomer on the ramp and took a leap over the side of the raised vehicle path. Without time to question, he dove after her, finding her on the ground and waiting up for him.

"Sorry." She giggled. "Forgot you can't take zoomers into the lower section of this area... plus all the different squares look the same..." She then looked around for a few moments before deciding on a direction, kicking up the loose dirt of the area while trotting a few blocks over. Again he followed till she led to a dead end with a large tent erected in the middle of the square.

Obviously this was their destination. Jak took the lead in entering the tent, and Daxter finally returned to his partner's shoulder, leaving Loor to bring up the rear. Entering the tent, it was cramped with every object that could possibly come to mind when one thought of the word 'ju-ju.' Onin herself almost blended in, along with her pet, who Loor noted as Daxter looked about the place.

"Cool!" The ottsel was clearly wowed. "Check out all the dead stuff!" He snickered, poking a colorful creature that may have looked dead, but certainly wasn't, making that point by biting Dax's poking finger. "Yow!"

Loor smirked as the colorful moncaw started swinging, speaking with an accent. "Touch the goods again, rat boy, and you'll be, _arrrwk, _counting with your toes!" After getting enough momentum he spread his wings to glide over to Onin, who had begun to lift her head. The moncaw landed in the basket she wore on her head, presenting himself with a flourish. "I am Pecker!"

Brief pause for everyone to laugh at the double meaning.

"Yes, yes, I know, my mother... she was... very vindictive." Pecker then bowed. "I am Onin's interpreter."

Onin lifted her hands, clapping and a sudden blue glow taking about her hands. Loor began to pay a bit more attention, suddenly fascinated. She didn't believe in magic, so she had to assume what Onin was doing was some sort of eco-manipulation, like what the sages did in the first Jak and Daxter game.

"Onin welcomes you, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah... the usual boring salutations... She says it is good to see you again, Jak."

Jak blinked, crossing his arms over his chest. "But we've never met before."

Pecker seemed to shrug. "Before, after, it is all the same."

Daxter burst in before the moncaw could go on, watching Onin make symbols with her hands. "Oh! Oh! Let me try! Aaah... she wants a... she wants a yakkow bone! A yakkow bladder! No, no, I got it! For many moons... she has... waited for... a juice pop? A jewel shop? Oh, oh, I know! She's got a hairball? A hair lip? A hairy chest?"

Pecker had left Onin's head basket to sit on a barrel near the trouble twins. "Close..." He said in a patronizing tone. "But NO! Onin says you seek answers, _arrrwkk, _about the Tomb of Mar."

Onin waved her hand, the blue aura forming the shape of Mar's seal.

"So what do we need to know?" Jak asked.

Pecker studied his master for a bit. "She's going on and on about mystical energy channels, evil curses, stupid '_ooooooo' _crap." He shook his head violently, waving his wings. "Forget all that! I'm gonna sum this up quickly, because now you are cutting into _my_ siesta time. Onin wants you to recover three artifacts from the precursor mountain temple. Not two, not four, three! Use the warp gate at the northwest side of the city, and bring back the three items you find."

Jak instantly moved to comply, but Pecker was still watching his master and gave a disgusted groan. "Wait!" The half-monkey half-bird called. "Onin wants to speak with the girl with you!"

Loor, who had been backing out of the way so Jak could leave the tent, poked her head back in. She then looked to Jak, somewhat helpless, but then shrugged. "I'll meet you at the power station, alright?" She asked, slipping by him to go back inside.

"Sure." He nodded, giving a short wave before taking off.

Loor then turned to face Onin and her uppity interpreter. "Yessum?"

Pecker was watching his master. "Onin says she has noticed that you do not belong here... but have also been too tainted to leave without proper preparation, should you choose to do so."

"Choose? There's no choice about it." The girl frowned. "I have to go home."

Onin's face creased into a look of worry.

"Onin says that is a dangerous path; dark eco is a corrupting taint that would destroy most people, but your body has reacted differently. Instead you have grown older than you truly are, and your body has become dependent on it. She can see this, and knows that the place you call home has no eco. Without a source, you will die. Perhaps in a few months after you leave, perhaps a few weeks, depending on the level you leave with."

Lauren blinked. "What? How can she see...? How could you...?" She looked at Onin, not Pecker, wanting to address the woman directly. "So you're telling me if I go home, I'm dead? Just because of..." She paused, realizing the truth of the words that Pecker had relayed to her. She'd had a great night of sleep, but her body still felt sluggish and sore. She'd had a brief spurt of happy energy, something she often did when she was exhausted. She'd even led Jak into the bazaar, not even thinking about the fact that he would notice that she didn't check her map.

And she had next to no eco in her system thanks to her change yesterday. Where the taint corrupted and killed, the _lack_ of eco was eventually going to kill her.

"Onin says she will search for a way you can return safely, but asks you to conciser your life before deciding what you want to do."

"I just wanna survive..." The girl felt the urge to sit down, feeling as if a huge weight were sitting on her shoulders. "I wanna get through this bullshit alive, and go home. Back to what I know, my family, my friends... my _life._.." Her closed posture of having her arms crossed over her chest changed over to hugging herself.

"Survival is your business." Pecker said. "Onin will have me notify you when she finds something."

Loor slowly backed out of the tent, shaking her head as if to clear it as she turned away. The heavy feeling on her shoulders was accompanied by the fact that she felt like she'd mentally run head-first into a wall. Her instinct to run and go somewhere safe, to go home, was in fact a death sentence? The idea jarred her mind so badly that it hurt, turning and walking to back to the industrial section to get to the power station.

She hoped Vin would have some good news for her when she got there; Onin had just filled her bad news quota for the rest of her life.

* * *

**The Author's Corner**

Another slightly short chapter, but I think we're alright with that, seeing as how many chapters this is prolly gonna turn out to be. Shorties but goodies, right? I hope so. I'm having fun writing this. I can see why this is still the most popular of all my stories, and I hope the popularity continues to grow as I re-work it in my current writing ability.

See you next time punks.

-Loor


	20. Vin's Warning

**CLEANED UP**

**Clean up notes for this chapter: **Vets will know what this chapter is just by the chapter title. Cleaned up the scene a little bit, and we got to plug in a little bit of Loor's history. WOOT!

**Disclaimer: Twenty re-written chapters and I still down own Jak and Daxter people. Sorries. **

**Vacation or War  
****Chapter Twenty- Vin's Warning**

"L-L-Loor!" Vin yelped, jumping as the girl entered the power station. "I was just about to call you! I..." He paused, looking at the downtrodden look on her face. "Are you alright...?"

"Just lover-ly." She answered sarcastically. She then looked at him and realized that Vin was looking at her with more than concern. He was eying her with clear fear. Something was wrong, and he needed to tell her something. "Great..." She sighed, putting a hand to her head. "More good news..."

"I'm s-sorry if it's a bad time... but..." He fidgeted on the spot. "It's important."

She sighed, walking the rest of the way and picking something to lean on before nodding for him to go on. She felt like she was going to fall over already. "Go ahead."

Vin nodded, trying to hold still. "You know all about what Jak is doing, right? Down to events, dialog, and so on?"

"Every little detail. I know the city like the back of my hand, the missions, who says what, all of that. Yeah, I'm a geek. So what?"

He wasn't able to keep himself in one spot, pacing. "Then we got problems."

"What's so bad about me knowing? So far I've just been playing dumb so no one gets suspicious..."

"You can't tell anyone anything!" Vin suddenly shouted. "I realized it after you crushed the VC-M1; you were right to do so, because you had brought in something that changed the events. Technically, to you, this is history. Simply by being alive you could end up changing things, but even worse is your knowledge of the future of this place! If what you know ever made it to Jak, Daxter, or anyone else, they could try and manipulate events they knew to come to their advantage. Thing is, the way you acted, I imagine what happened was really specific. If any of us tried to monkey with it, it would probably all come crashing down!"

He panted; getting all of this off his chest had him sweating and out of his mind in panic.

"It's like a computer. If you know what it's going to do, you might try and explore how much room you have to bend the order of events, or where you go or what you program, and if you go too far, the system develops a glitch and maybe even crashes." He took a big breath, barely holding it together. "If you tell anyone anything, the same thing could happen. They might try to slip the system something it didn't have before, and the whole thing could come crashing down. it might even be to the point that someone dies and then you're missing a whole factor of events!"

Lauren stared in shock for a few moments. She couldn't believe it at first, but it set in, and her brain got around the information. She, on the tiniest whim, could bring this entire world to ruin. If Jak went down, Kor would win, and the whole thing would be out of whack.

The whole world... metal head heaven...

She swallowed and croaked out, "So... if one thing was to change on my part, it would effect something else and maybe have a negative outcome?"

"Depends on the event." Vin finally calmed down a little, not alone in the knowledge now. "Could be big, could be small. Could be negative, could be positive. I look at it like math; the events are like numbers, the ending result being the the end product of the equation. Change a number, and the change to the final answer might be small. Change a different number, and you might effect the whole equation and have to recalculate it, the answer you get becoming completely different."

Loor nodded. She understood numbers, better than most. Still, the parallel made her sick to her stomach. She felt caught between a rock and a hard place.

To go home was death, but to stay and end up influencing events here, either with her big mouth or just by existing...

Both she and Vin jumped as the door opened again, admitting Jak and Daxter into the power station. "Loor!" Daxter greeted with a grin. "You beat us here! What did Onin have to say to you?"

The girl's head was swirling, but she swallowed the coppery taste in her mouth to speak. "Um... nothing. Just some of that weird 'ooooooo' crap that Pecker was talking about, you know?"

"Blech." Daxter shook his head. "If you ask me, that crone and her bird brained interpreter are as good as a living precursor statue, and we all remember what happened the last time we talked to one of those!"

Loor giggled as Vin returned to work. "Yeah..."

Jak finally got down to business, turning to Vin and starting in on a scene that Loor had learned word-for-word to impress her friends.

"Vin, buddy, we need a favor." Jak said, putting his hands together over-dramatically.

Vin only lifted his head slightly towards the trouble twins. "I can't help you with your eco bill!"

Jak sighed, his humor obviously ill received, and got down to brass tacks. "We need you to switch on the access elevator in one of the Palace's support towers."

The paranoid scientist finally stopped working and turned around. "Sheesh! That's part of the old B-zone power grid. It hasn't worked for years!"

"Well..." Jak shrugged, turning away to face away from Vin and ending up facing Loor, winking at both her and Dax. "If it's too hard for you, I understand. Power stuff can be tricky."

"Tricky!" Vin became offended. "Hmmph!" At once he snapped into work move, moving about the power station to access various controls. "I could route the B-zone conduit lines through the bypass grid, shunting past the eco rings to connect the inductor tubes in series, then back through the outer wall indicator helix and across the resonant flux routes into the number five capacitor array." By now he'd gotten onto a lift to get to things up near the ceiling, everyone having to duck as the lift swung across the room. "Assuming the circuits in GX75B can handle the surge, I could link the phase loop lines into the primary coils, and presto!" The lift slammed down in front of the others. "You've got instant lift juice!"

Jak grinned. "Vin, you're a genius!" He complemented; the least he could do after tricking the little dude into show-off mode.

"Eh..." Vin became sheepish. "Actually, Mar was the genius. People say he made most of this stuff long ago – the shield-wall system, the eco grid... Anyway! To get that elevator moving, you gotta find and turn on all the old B-zone power boxes located in the city. There are five of 'em!"

"That don't sound so tough..." Daxter said.

"No." Vin admitted before switching back into panic mode, his usual MO. "Except those power boxes are guarded by motion sensing turbo cannons! But, if you can destroy the cannons,"

Jak had begun nodding, smirking, and Daxter shook his head in fear.

"And switch the boxes on, I can do the rest! Just don't tell the Baron I ever saw ya!"

The boys got moving, Jak giving Lauren a wave to follow. She held a finger up, saying she'd be just a second behind them. He nodded, going outside and the door shutting.

"Are you sure it's a good idea to be hanging around them? They're the heroes, right?" Vin asked her.

"I... as long as I don't say anything stupid, it's safer for me to only be involved in the events I know because I can help guide them in the right direction. If I went anywhere else in the city, I could disrupt something else without even knowing. Jak and Daxter were the heroes, but other people played a part in this war. Anyway..." She sighed. "I just found out I need raw eco to live. Joining them on metal head hunts is probably the only way I'm going to get it."

"... you... what?"

"I told you Vin. When I first landed here, I woke up in the fortress. I reacted differently to the eco... and now that I think about it, it was mentioned that there was a genetic anomaly with me and Fury. She and I are fundamentally different than the people here in our base chemistry... now it's just me, but the fact still stands that there has to be a reason I reacted the way I did."

"I almost can't believe it effect you the way you said it did. I mean, you say you're actually thirteen, but no one would ever guess it by how you talk."

She snickered. "Great, my lucky break is I act my physical age." She said sarcastically. "I've always been told I was too old for my age, but I wouldn't call it positive that I was forced to grow into it." She then started walking, waving. "Keep looking, Vin. I'm depending on you."

She stepped outside before he could answer her, nearly running into Jak, since he was standing just outside. "Buh...? Figured you guys would be gone by now." She giggled. "This is your show, anyway."

"You okay, toots? You've been acting funny since this morning, like you didn't get enough sleep." Dax leaned in to examine her.

"I'm fine." She pushed the ottsel back onto Jak's shoulder. "Really, I'm okay. Now, are we gonna get moving or what?"

"You wanna help out on this one, even though you're not coming up there with us?" Jak asked.

"Of course I do. If I can't go up with you guys, the least I can do is make sure to deliver you safely."

"Great." Jak waved her toward the zoomer he had ridden to the power station. "Dax and I already figured an easy way to take care of the cannons and flip the switches, but we needed a third person the drive."

"You trust my skills that much?" She snickered while getting on and scooting forward. It was a one person zoomer, but the seat was long enough to support two people if need be.

"More than I trust your shooting skills." He shot back with a laugh, getting on behind her and drawing out his morph gun with the scatter gun mod equipped; the blaster wouldn't do enough damage to destroy the cannons they were going after. "Just drive in close, I'll take out the cannon, Daxter will hop off and hit the switch, we swing back for him and move on to the next one. Quick and easy."

Loor ducked down, aware of the hardware he'd be firing over her head. Still, that wasn't the only thing that was making her nervous as she started driving. Just as she was leaning down, he was leaning over her. She usually wasn't one to get bent out of shape over touching; she was brought up in what she called a full contact family, but for some reason it was bothering her... in a most unnerving yet pleasant way.

_Don't think about it._ She ordered herself, instead turning her mind to where she knew the turrets to be that they needed to destroy. This time, unlike this morning, she covered for herself. "Vin told me where they were." She said while cruising off of the ramp and down to ground level.

"Good, I didn't wanna look at my map."

She snickered. "_Felpelz." _

He growled, remembering his multilingual wake-up call that morning. "What the hell does that mean?"

"What's the fun if I tell you?" She laughed before punching it; the first turret wasn't far and shooting time was not talking time. She put her head down while blasting ahead, coming up on the first turret they needed to smash and Jak taking it out the moment they were close enough, Daxter jettisoning but a moment after. Loor had trouble slowing down, as by shooting the turret the alarm had gone up and with it her adrenaline. Still, she swung back around while holding the hand break as Dax flipped the switch, turning and leaping back onto the zoomer, clambering back to Jak's shoulder.

So far, so slick. The others weren't much tougher than that, most of the time going and oh shit moments coming from the hot pursuit of the KG following them. For every turret smashed and switch flipped, it seemed there were another troop of men in red waiting to use them for target practice.

There was been many close calls, but Lauren would never directly remember them. She just hugged the zoomer and kept moving.

"That's the last one!" Daxter yelped, hopping back onto the zoomer. "Lose the suckers!"

She didn't need to be told twice, forcing Jak back in the seat as she made the effort to flatten to the little vehicle, twisting the throttle and taking every corner she came upon while aiming for where she knew the support tower to be. She had hoped the alarm would be down by the time she got there, but it came a lot faster than she expected. Unwilling to stop, she went on to the section with the canals, dropping under the street level and finally parking under a bridge, clinging to the zoomer in the same way she had done after delivering Krew's payment.

It was only then that she noticed that Jak had tried to help with aerodynamics by flatting his body to hers, hugging her to hang on. Daxter had wiggled himself between them somehow, somewhere between her back and under Jak's chin.

"Um..." She took a deeper breath. "Dogpile?"

Daxter put a fuzzy hand over his face as Jak sat up, shoving her forward again so he had some seat to sit on. They didn't have to run anymore, but they'd have to stay quiet and hide till the alarm went down.

"You corner like a racer." Jak commented. "Spend any time around tracks?"

"My family races." She said quietly, looking up at the bridge above them. She could hear the thudding of boots, but those same boots probably drowned out any noise they might make. "My uncle, actually. One time at the course, he let me go out in the car with him and showed me proper form for cornering and such. A zoomer is a bit different than a car; you have to start your turn earlier, but the same basic principal of knowing your lines applies. Dad, my uncle's brother, talks to me about racing a lot too."

"Why didn't you tell us sooner, toots?" Dax asked, not as good at keeping his voice down as the others. "We coulda gotten you a spot in the races too."

"I'm better off in the garage." She shrugged. "I've never even driven a race car before, but I've worked on them."

The thumping of boots finally receded, leaving the bridge strangely quiet.

"I wanted to learn..." She sighed while steering the zoomer out from the cover of the bridge, turning back to where she knew the tower to be. "Just never got the time."

"I'll have to stop holding back on our little sprints through the city." Jak chuckled. "I didn't know you actually knew a thing or two."

"Ah, shove it." She grumbled, turned sour at remembering home. It was a short trip back to the tower, and she stopped for the boys to get off. "Come back in one piece, alright?"

Jak snickered at her, nodding. "Just don't go getting in any trouble without us."

"But getting in trouble is fun!" She whined back, finally getting into this whole 'joking' thing.

"Exactly." He smirked, turning to the door and entering the tower.

Loor took a few moments to notice that stupid smile was on her face again.

* * *

**The Author's Corner**

Ah, this chapter was one I was looking forward to re-writing.

And before anyone asks, yes my family does race. My uncle and my cousin are part of the SCCA, Sports Car Club of America, racing Mazdas. My uncle actually offered to help me get my racing license, but SCCA is a 'pay for yourself' type event; no sponsors. The car, your equipment, everything is yours. My uncle got rich after making some good schooling choices, and takes my family along racing to play pit crew. We help him take care of the cars; I'm the youngest member and usually do the stuff that's close to the ground that the old people and their bad knees can't get to anymore: changing tiers, checking air pressures, changing oil, bleeding breaks, ect..

I missed out on most of the season this year, but I do love racing. I hope that if I ever do make a sufficient income for myself later in life to join the SCCA and race, just like my uncle.

Happy reading,

-Loor


	21. Sightseeing

**CLEANED UP**

**Clean up notes for this chapter: **You vets remember the scene were Jak walks in on Loor taking a bath in Haven forest? That scene... just got a lot more funny.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Jak and Daxter or any related trademarks. **

**Vacation or War  
****Chapter Twenty One- Sightseeing**

Left alone, Loor wasn't exactly sure on what she planned to do with herself. She wouldn't go back to the hideout; Torn would probably try to send her somewhere all on her lonesome. Instead she considered where she was and pulled a quick turn-around to go towards the agricultural section. She wasn't interested in the plants there, she was interested in the gate there.

The gate that led out to Haven Forest. The thought had just hit her on where she could find running water to bathe; Haven Forest had a waterfall that emptied into a small river and a lake. Usually she would never think of skinny dipping, but she was sick of the gunk on her body. Anyway, there was no one there. She'd be left alone with plenty of time to herself to get clean.

The drive was uneventful, and she ditched the zoomer at the door that led into the airlock, stretching while she waited for the second door to open. The idea of a good wash had her smiling even bigger than she had been before, crossing the threshold of the now open door onto the ledge of the huge canyon. To her right as a warp gate, waiting to take her to the other side of the gigantic gap.

She glared. She was learning to dislike warp gates and understand Samos's opinion on them. Still, she made a running leap at it before she could change her mind, landing on the other end with a dull _thud _as she went from her feet to her knees, nearly eating grass but recovering. Then, getting back up, she looked up to see something that took her breath away.

The precursor temple built into the mountain was downright beautiful, and was practically right in front of her. Sure, it was across another chasm, but she had to stare at it in wonder. She wondered about the precursors, what purpose their temples served, but didn't dwell. The longer she gawked at the scenery, the less time she got to clean up. So instead she turned herself to the little floating platform on the edge of the chasm that would take her down to the forest.

She didn't trust it, seeing as it was floating on its own. She wasn't used to devices being able to propel themselves without visible means. She slowly stepped onto it, and then ended up on her knees to catch her balance and cling to the little platform, as it began moving quickly and without any warning. "Jeez!" She yelped, not daring to get up as the platform moved. _Note to self, don't be stingy with the platforms. They move fast. _

As it went, she got another view of the temple, looking up at the trees growing out and away from it and the magnificent waterfalls seeming to fly away from the sides. The platform then slipped into a corridor of rock, the occasional spit of precursor bronze sticking out of the gray walls before coming to a gate made of the lustrous metal. The platform stopped, and she quickly leapt off of it, happy to be on solid ground again.

And once more she lost her ability to breathe, looking up at the forest. She'd always loved greenery, trees, and the like. It was how she liked to escape and relax; going for walks or climbing trees. She could hear birds in the trees, and the deep groaning of trees swaying in the breeze, along with the white noise of the waterfall.

Standing up, she felt straight euphoric just looking at the place. The ground was a thick carpet of grass, dotted with the occasional flower, dropping down various ledges until it led up to the river cutting through the area. She climbed down, getting to the water and not taking a second more to delay, stripping out of her clothes for the first time in several days and slipping into the water before she could talk herself out of it.

The water was chilly, but she didn't care. It could have been just above freezing and she still would have insisted on dunking her head in, just to get the crusty feeling out of her hair and the gunk off of her face. She felt like she'd been dipped in oil, and her back was itching like no tomorrow. Now she laid out in the river, the lazy current just enough for her to paddle against and end up going nowhere while shaking off all the crud that had gathered.

She felt like a snake shedding its skin, curling into a ball to go under and then kicking off the bottom to come up, whipping her hair back.

It was odd to think a war-torn city still had a place like this right next door. It was all rather tranquil, until she remembered that metal heads still hung about here now and again. That reminded her not to let her guard completely down, lest she get snuck up on. The thought of getting attacked while both alone and naked was a thought she didn't fancy.

Still, all senses told her she was alone with her bath, and she gladly carried on, digging her nails into her scalp while putting her head underwater, trying to wash away all the shit that had gotten into her hair. It was when she stood up out of the water and stretched that she finally looked down at her self and wasn't disgusted by blood and dirt. Of course, it was also the first time she'd looked at her own naked body since leaving the fortress. She had to stare a moment at all that had changed; she was covered in stretch marks from the rapid growth she'd undergone. Honestly, it looked like she'd gotten in a fight with a bear.

_A very friendly bear..._ She thought, the most vivid of the stretch marks being about her breasts and hips. She must have sprang from a B to a D. Still, she wasn't used to having such a mass on her chest. They were heavy, and without her sports bra on they bounced a lot more than she would have liked. She imagined that if she'd grown into the cup size at the natural pace, she'd be used to it. But she hadn't, and she wasn't.

Walking back to where she'd slipped into the water, she sat on the bank while rubbing her feet. The bank wasn't sandy, instead there were rocks that made an ideal place for her to sit as she tried to rest and refresh herself. After her feet she splashed her hands into the water, scooping some into her face before going to wring her hair out.

She hadn't thought about the fact that after a bath she'd need to dry off before getting her clothes back on, and was now looking around for some way to improvise. She didn't have a towel, or anything else she could use as one...

But there were several large boulders about the place, some of them highlighted in sun.

Dare she sunbathe while completely exposed?

She'd already gone skinny-dipping.

Why not?

* * *

"I wonder why she came out here..." Daxter mused, he and Jak having just gotten away from the palace after a run-in with Baron Praxis. It had been a close encounter, but not close enough for Jak. The guy was charged up and wanted to lay into something badly, since Praxis had gotten away. They figured the best course of action would be return to the underground, but they had to go and find Loor first.

Daxter had used Jak's comm. to locate her, the map reporting that she had wandered over to Haven Forest.

"No idea." Jak said, though it was more of a short and dismissive grunt. The poor guy had his brain locked into revenge mode, and it was going to take a pretty rude wake-up call to get him to calm down.

"Buddy, cool it off." Dax advised as the two of them left the airlock behind and hopped through the warp gate just beyond, heading for the forest to retrieve the girl. "It wasn't our only shot."

"But it was one of the better ones." Jak grumbled, stepping onto the precursor platform that would take them down to the woods.

"Stop thinkin' about it. I'm worried about Loor... According to the map, she's down there, but she didn't answer her comm. when we tried to raise her... There are metal heads down here sometimes. I'd hate it if something nasty happened to her."

Jak didn't say anything; if he was worried he wasn't showing it.

"Jeez, what a knight in shining armor you are." Dax rolled his eyes. "Don't go gallivanting ahead to save the damsel in distress."

Finally, the blond hero cracked a smirk. "If she heard that, she would murder you."

"How do you know?"

"I get that vibe off of her. She likes to take care of herself."

The platform stopped, Jak stepping off into the forest area and looking around. The trees blocked most of the view from their current vantage point, but Daxter noticed something pretty quickly.

"Are those... her clothes?"

Jak snapped a look to where Dax was pointing. Indeed, by the bank of the river was Loor's clothes, piled together next to her boots, which had her socks stuffed in them. The pile was wrapped up by her scarf, though loosely. Either way, Jak began to climb down while curious as to why her clothes were in a pile and not on their owner.

Getting down the final ledge, he looked up to find out why. He could see across the river now to where a large rock was highlighted by sun filtering through. And on top of that rock, apparently having dozed off, was Loor.

Without all of her clothes.

Jak turned around at once out of respect, knocked out of his grumpy and angsty haze to be thoroughly embarrassed. She must have come down here to bathe and decided to dry out on the rocks.

Daxter didn't share his embarrassment, turning around to keep looking at her. "_Oooooh... _Now that is a beautiful thing. See, this is why I don't understand decency laws. Who in the world could be offended by that?"

"Dax!" Jak snapped, seeming rightly disturbed by his partner.

"What? She's sleepin!" The ottsel turned to lean on his partner's head. "C'mon Jak, she'll never know if you sneak a peak."

"I don't want to!"

"Tch, forget you only got eyes for Keira." Daxter turned to look across the river again. "It's a waste I don't have a camera... But memory will have to serve."

"Until she beats your brains out."

"And why would she do that? She's never gonna know I looked."

"One of us has to go and wake her."

Dax suddenly realized why Jak really didn't want to look at her. It wasn't that he didn't enjoy the female body; of course he did, but it was the fact that she was going to know or simply assume that they were both gawking, and one of them was going to have to get within swinging range to wake her up.

"You do it." Daxter instantly ordered. "You can take her, right?"

"I'm not going to fight a girl in the nude. You do it, she expects it from you."

Both boys shut up as Loor could be heard hefting a long yawn, ending with a high pitched squeak.

"Did she just...?" Despite the situation, Jak was containing a chuckle.

"You should have seen her face." Daxter snickered. "That was cute... but she rolled over."

Jak snuck a glance; she'd rolled onto her side, facing away from them, which was a sight he could deal with without feeling too embarrassed. At least now she wouldn't assume they were gawking at full-frontal nudity, which they had been. Well, Dax anyway. Jak chose this time to move, going to Loor's things and picking them up and going a little up the river to a few stepping stones to get across without getting wet. Then, as unceremonious as the whole scene had been, he got to the rock she was sleeping on and literally dropped her things on her, turning away.

Loor shocked awake with a yelp, her clothes landing on her stomach. At first she stared at them strangely, and then began to survey about herself in curiosity. She soon saw Jak facing away from her, and also caught Daxter sneaking a peak now that she was sitting up.

"Dax!" She crowed, taking her scarf and spreading it over her breasts.

"Hey, you're the one who decided to take a nap in the sun, toots."

"Well you've had your peek, turn around already!"

The ottsel complied, though slowly. Once he'd properly turned around, Loor reached out to give his tail a tug of revenge before getting to work on getting dressed. She got most of her outfit on quickly, putting her scarf on and saving her boots for last since they took the longest. "Alright..." She said while strapping in. "I'm decent."

"Let's go." Jak said without looking at her. "Torn's probably waiting for us at the underground."

"Did he try to raise us while you were up there?" Loor asked, checking her comm. as it was continuously vibrating, letting her know she'd missed a call. Turned out it was from Jak. "Oh... jeez, you guys tried to get ahold of me? I'm sorry..."

"Hey, _I'm_ not complaining." Daxter snickered, having recovered from getting his tail pulled rather quickly. "Anyway, Torn hasn't tried to call us, but let's just say we might have... well... triggered a few alarms?"

"The city is on high alert, looking for us." Jak clarified. "The Baron now knows we're with the underground... he knows about you too. It's a head-hunt for the three of us."

"_Great..." _Loor followed as Jak led back to the platform that would take the trio back to the warp gate. "I've never been on a most wanted list... or a to-kill list for that matter..."

"I think the only list we're on is experiments gone wrong." Jak sighed, the two of them stepping on the platform at the same time to ride it together.

"Least you two survived." Daxter reminded, trying to put a positive spin on things. "That's better news than I've heard about the rest of 'em."

Loor smirked, reaching up to scratch Dax behind the ears. At least she could always trust the little guy to try and be a little ray of sunshine.

* * *

"The city is on high alert, what the hell did you guys do?"

Torn was not pleased, glowering across the table in the underground at Jak, Daxter, and Lauren. Kor was to his side, a face Loor had not yet seen, along with the kid.

"Us?" Daxter leapt to the table. "Uh... nothing. We've been..." He held back a snicker with what just happened with Loor. "sightseeing, right Jak?"

"Really?" Torn snapped. "Then why are the Krimzon Guard looking for..." He looked down to consult what looked like a wanted poster. " 'A dangerous young man with light hair, blue tunic, and a rabid orange _rat_ on his shoulder'?" He pushed that paper to the side, looking at a second one that Lauren didn't remember being in the game.

And for good reason; it wasn't in the game.

"And," The irate commander continued. " 'A young woman with dark clothes and hair, often seen with said young man'? You idiots were spotted outside one of the palace support towers right before all hell broke loose, now would you mind telling me what is going on?"

"Look," Jak took charge. "We climbed up to the palace... and... we tripped a few alarms. And leave Lauren out of this; she didn't even go up with us."

"Oh, right... that too." Daxter admitted.

"What?" Torn roared. "I didn't authorize a strike on the –!"

Loor suddenly remembered the coming line, and stepped over by the kid as inconspicuously as she could, slipping her hands over the kid's ears before Jak could snap back at Torn.

"Hey, we kicked the Baron's ass. Unfortunately, he escaped..."

Jak then shot a sideways look to Lauren across the table, to which the girl just offered a sheepish smile. _Protect the virgin elfy ears._

"_And_ we overheard a secret meeting with the leader of the metal heads!" Daxter boasted.

"You saw the metal head leader?" Kor asked, looking quite shocked.

"No." Jak answered. "He was on some communicator, but we heard him talking with Baron Praxis."

"The Baron is bribing the metal heads with eco!" Daxter crowed.

Kor made a face. "Hmmph, it will never be enough."

"But the Baron is gonna double cross 'em!"

Lauren saw a look on Kor's face that nearly had her doing a double take. It was a face she'd learned to hide in years of learning how to lie and 'enhance' the truth; the face a person made while thinking fast. Of course! She'd forgotten for the moment that this ass-wipe was the metal head leader.

She realized that through this meeting, Jak and Daxter had single-handedly ruined the Baron's plans by relaying information to the enemy. Kor hadn't just known; he'd been pulling info from the underground, talking to both sides.

The things she never noticed just watching the cut-scenes on the games.

"Is that so?" Kor asked. "Well our good Baron's wonderful 'charm' must have angered someone, because there's word from the wasteland that metal head armies are on the move again!"

_Or there will be, once you give the order in light of this new information. _Lauren mentally seethed.

Jak turned on Torn. "Why didn't you tell me that Ashelin was Praxis's daughter? What's your connection with her?"

"That's none of your business!" The tattooed commander snapped. "Since you've gone and stirred up the wumpbee's nest, you and whiskers here need to get four of our people to new safe houses. Shuttle each agent to a location they specify. Move all of them _without_ any casualties. Don't screw this up, Jak!"

Jak looked like he had something hostile to say back, but turned with a clear huff, Dax hardly having time to get back to his shoulder. Lauren trotted after, frowning. Sure, she hadn't gone with, but she would have if Jak had let her. "Hey." She said, catching him by the shoulder before he made it to the stairs. "You want me to come with?"

He looked back at her, and shook his head. "I'm the one who rushed up there. Get some rest; we'll be back for you."

She sighed, letting him go and turning back to see Kor was hobbling for the door himself, the kid having run ahead of him, stopping in front of Loor and looking up with the glee only a child could express. She snickered, crouching down and smiling at the kid. "What do you want?" She asked him, surprised that this little toddler eventually grew up into Jak. He had to be pretty young not to remember anything, but he was walking just fine, so maybe two years old? Possibly three? She had her own first memories at the age of three, but the line was different with everyone.

And Jak did remember the light from the rift ring at the end of this little adventure. She wondered what he thought of that memory currently; did he file it away as some passing dream of his younger days, or did he think about it?

The kid broke her out of her thinking by grabbing her nose, surprising her and making her laugh. "Hey!" She snickered, poking him in return. "That's mine."

Kor hobbled past them, making a noise that must have meant 'come' to the kid, because he left Loor to run to Kor's side and follow him out.

With everyone else gone, and Torn effectively ignoring her, Loor decided to kick her boots off and continue her nap.

This time, _with_ clothes.

* * *

**The Author's Corner**

This turned out a lot longer and a lot funnier than the first time around... I had fun with that one. Too bad that it now out-dates the picture I made to go along with that scene... Bah, it was still good times.

And honestly, I could totally see Jak pulling a peeping-tom act if he was thinking of doing so already, but just walking in on a girl... I feel he'd be more shell-shocked and embarrassed, regardless of who it was. The power of surprise!

Happy reading,

-Loor


	22. Turncoat

**CLEANED UP**

**Clean up notes for this chapter: **First encounter with Dark! WOOT! We'll ignore that this was chapter twelve in the original, and here we are at chapter twenty two. ONWARD.

**Disclaimer: I don't own Jak and Daxter. I'm not making any money off of this fanfiction. **

**Vacation or War  
****Chapter Twenty Two- Turncoat**

"Get your ass back here now, Jak!"

Loor woke up to the sound of Torn snapping into his comm., the volume and violence of his voice making her sit straight up as if she'd received an electric shock. At first she was disoriented, but reality came rushing in as Torn's voice was followed by him slamming the little device on the table in the back of the room. Looking, she saw the tattooed commander looking quite upset and stewing.

"How many of those do you go through a week?" She cracked, since the table had protested under the force of Torn's hand.

"Shuttup, smartass." He snarled back "You better be up for this one, since you've been sleeping all damn day."

"What's going on?" She asked, trying to kick-start her brain. Had she really slept all day? She still felt exhausted.

"I'll explain when Jak gets here, no reason to say it twice. Just be ready to get moving."

Lauren felt the urge to pout and mimic the guy; she'd slept in her clothes and still had her weapons strapped to her. All she had to do was get up and stretch a little bit, and she was ready as she was ever going to be. She did the latter, ignoring her former urge as she bent down to touch her toes. If Torn was this up in knots, right after the shuttling mission...

_Oh shit. The sacred site. Samos's hut. _

She didn't have a moment more to think about it, the dynamic duo coming in the door. Jak at once locked onto Torn, who spoke before the blond teen could ask what the hell had him so pissed off before.

"Scouts report movement in Dead Town." Torn informed them. "Creatures moving towards the sacred site, just as before."

Daxter frowned; Torn was being a drama queen and making him a tad uneasy. "What happened... ah, before?"

"Metal heads broke through the old city wall. We fought them, but then the Baron pulled back, leaving everyone outside the 'new barrier' to die. Only the Shadow stayed and somehow stopped the attack."

"And now you expect us to go out there again?" Jak asked, the question of why Torn was sending two teenagers and a rat to do the work an army couldn't left unasked.

"You catch on fast!" Torn's face had turned from angry to anxious. "If you prevent the metal heads from reaching the sacred site, the Shadow will be... most grateful. He might even ask to see you."

He then reached under the table, grabbing an object and sliding it across to Jak, who picked it up without question. "I'm probably wasting this..." Torn shrugged, "but there's a vulcan barrel for that pea shooter of yours. Believe me, you're gonna need it!"

Jak snapped the new mod into his morph gun, flipping the new and weighty weapon to carry by his knees and smirking. Torn simply rolled his eyes, the signal for them to get going. Loor was already moving for the door, surprised when she got outside to find it was already pretty dark. She _had_ slept all day.

"You ain't getting sick, are you babe?" Daxter asked as the boys caught up. "We came back for you after moving people around, but you were sleeping like a rock."

She shrugged. "I'm sure I'm fine. I think I've told you guys once already, I've only been on my feet for the past few days after being kept in a tank for two weeks. My body is still getting used to supporting itself again."

"Yeah, sure. Just take care of yourself, we were worried!" Dax looked to his partner for confirmation. "Right?"

"Speak for yourself." Jak snickered. "I could go for a nap too after how late we stayed up last night..."

"But she's had two now!"

"Don't remind me..." Lauren grumbled, ignoring the zoomer on the corner to let Jak have it this time. "That's probably the dumbest thing I've ever done."

"You're lucky Dax didn't take pictures." Jak teased while hopping onto the zoomer she left, following her as she trotted to the next closest vehicle. "He would have if he could've."

"You both are encouraging me towards animal cruelty." She growled, getting up and following as Jak took the lead towards the gate into Dead Town. She hadn't been there yet, and was somewhat curious. "Maybe I'll just skin him for Krew."

"Ack!" Daxter went to Jak's other shoulder to hide from her. The drive to the gate was short, the trio jumping down into the hole and walking up to the airlock. Waiting for the door to open, Loor bounced to try and wake herself up a bit more. She felt ready to sit just about anywhere and fall back asleep, but wouldn't let herself.

No. She was here, she had to see it through. Not to mention she was sure even Jak would start worrying if she just fell over and started snoozing. She pulled her juice rod from her back, settling it in her left hand before going into her pouch, pulling out a few cartridges of ammo to hook on her belt before drawing out the pistol strapped to her leg, stepping through the first door with Jak. He was arming himself as well, morph gun in hand and practicing switching between the mods quickly before settling on the blaster.

"Think you can handle two weapons at once?" Daxter asked, looking over at Loor.

"Haven't tried yet... I'm not ambidextrous, but I've trained both hands to handle my practice weapon without the other hand. This thing is a bit heavier... but I should be able to handle it."

"Don't plow ahead till you're comfortable." Jak advised. "I'll cover you."

She snorted, but nodded. They'd already proven she was hopeless without someone covering her ass.

The second door opened, and they both moved out as Daxter hunkered down, ready to hang on in case Jak decided to make some quick moves.

Dead Town smelt of years and years of mildew and water damage to buildings, along with the earthy smell that reminded Lauren of swampland. The ground had a swampy quality to it as well; just a little squishy. Lauren imagined it made most people unsteady, but she had swampland at home; it made up half of her yard. She placed her feet at shoulder width, put one blade of her weapon to the ground, and held her pistol ready.

The strangest thing so far; Dead Town was completely quiet. The fact that there was a city right behind them didn't seem to matter; it was silent as the grave out there. Lauren expected to hear frogs, bugs, _something _that she associated with the swampy smell, but there was nothing. It was a dangerous silence, making the trio on edge.

Jak took the first step forward, the laser sight of the blaster making the small corridor they were in glow red, the broken walls to either side throwing irregular shadows. Ahead the muddy land gave way to water, but there were old platforms of wood to cross to another spit of land ahead with a scaffolding built next to a grouping of stone blocks. That was their pathway to the center of Dead Town.

Suddenly, the muddy earth in front of them began to shift. Loor backed up a step, aiming. Jak turned back to train his laser sight on it, clots of dirt getting pushed up and over as something dug itself out.

A type of metal head Lauren knew to be called a stinger; a very small metal head where most of its mass was it's head, six small legs letting it crawl about quickly, and a scorpion-like tail with a stinger on the end, naming it.

She aimed for the glowing skull gem and fired quickly as its friends started coming through the ground as well. Stingers were always in groups; she kept shooting, even after the first one changed into little metal head chunks, hoping to hit the others she knew were coming before they could start skittering about. Jak was taking her strategy, shooting until the ground stopped shifting.

The two looked at each other before nodding to move on. Jak crossed the precarious bridge first as Loor stopped to pick up what eco she could from the little metal heads that had been crawling out of the ground. She didn't want to say it, but her weakness and fatigue was probably related to how little eco she had in her system. The moment she felt the spark it was like a haze had been lifted, her head feeling clearer and her body becoming energized like she'd had a wonderful night of sleep.

Onin was right; she needed the eco to keep going.

She tried to push the thought off as she followed after Jak, who had already climbed the scaffolding and taken out a grunt type metal head that was laying in wait. It looked like he'd bludgeoned the creature and was doing what she'd done with the stingers- adsorbing the eco.

Right; he had better control on his dark side, and the destructive power could prove useful in a pinch.

She envied him; Lyra threatened mental civil war if Lauren locked her away, but when letting her run free she could hardly look at Jak without feeling Lyra's wish to... 'play' with him, as she put it. Perhaps she'd just have to train herself to ignore the creatures emotions.

What disturbed her is how her body went along with her split psyche. Twice now the beast had caused her to warm and made her insides turn to goo while gawking at Jak's desirable figure. Lauren had shut such things out as fast as she was able, but the reaction she had still scratched a particularly strange itch.

_Stop thinking._ She snapped at herself, having followed Jak across the bridge and up the scaffolding, getting up just in time to see Jak had switched over to the vulcan barrel to take out a few new metal heads; slingers. Tall and thin creatures with a sling that seemed to fire off globs of... something. It was rank of eco but even more destructive than the raw stuff. She growled at the fact that she'd fallen behind, digging into her newly found energy and hopping down to catch up.

Jak looked back as he finished clearing the area of a large group of slingers and stingers. "Get lost?" He teased.

"In my brain." She said shortly, trotting ahead to get on top of another ruined wall. This time there was a grunt waiting for her. At first she moved to throw herself at it, but instead pulled back and just swung her juice rod to entice the beast, turning her other side forward to shoot at it just as it made a leap for her. The transition was smooth, and she actually managed to make a lethal shot at the near point-blank range. She then deflected the large amount of metal meat flying at her by flashing out her weapon a second time, knocking it off the wall and into the swamp.

She jumped, nearly after the creature, as Jak fired a few quick shots to take care of a second grunt that she hadn't seen while taking care of the first one. "Ah!" She yelped, turning to see the blond hero climbing up with his shoulder ornament.

"Watch your back, or somethin' is gonna start chewing on it." Daxter advised. Both of them looked a tad on edge; it had been a close thing and she could have been taken down. Swamps weren't exactly deadly, but if something forced your head down... buh-bye.

"Thanks for the tip." She growled sarcastically, put on guard by getting her ass saved. She couldn't help the instant reaction; she wanted to take care of herself. Still, she managed to reign herself in and follow as Jak led the way on the top of the crumbly wall, staying in the dead center and walking one foot in front of the other. She kept her stave-like weapon slightly raised, eyes now dashing left and right to make sure she wasn't snuck up on again.

The wall intersected what very well could have been the second floor of what used to be a building. Pillars of stone held up what was left of the ceiling, though it wasn't much. Also, with a small group of grunts, was yet another interesting type of metal head.

It was a bigger creature, beating Jak by at least two feet, standing up on two legs with natural armor growing out of its shoulders and knees, a thick tail thrashing out behind. Though of course the important part was the fact that this creature had a gun to match its own bulk.

Lauren remembered the proper title for this type of metal head being a 'gunner' though she was realizing all the names that had come to mind so far were quite non-creative. On the other hand, enemy names had only been shown in the game guide for Jak II, something she'd bought for concept art. One couldn't expect much from extra reference material.

Of course such thoughts didn't stay on her mind for long. She and Jak didn't stay unnoticed for long, two of the three grunts lifting their heads and sniffing at the air. Jak dove forward, ducking down against the sizable step up onto the floor. Lauren was right behind him, waiting as Jak switched from the vulcan barrel to the blaster.

He gave her a nod, and she took the leap up.

He stood up behind her, taking aim at the two grunts that had been about to leap down and try to eat them. She hadn't been expecting that, but she rolled with it. Literally, putting her head down and rolling on her shoulders, popping up closer to the gunner than she thought she was going to be. The large metal head had been aiming at her, but missed. Now she was in its face.

Thankfully, it was just as surprised as she was, so her hesitation wasn't instant death. A second shot of luck was the creature needed to cock its gun again before shooting her, giving her that extra half second to take the advantage.

She thrust her juice rod forward and squeeze the second the blade made contact. Whether she had actually cut the creature, she wasn't sure, but that wasn't her goal. Upon squeezing she engaged a blue eco crystal in her weapon, giving it what Teek had described as a 'shocking' effect.

The metal head seized, arching away from the blade but unable to move very far. Effectively stalling, she turned to search for the third grunt, the one that hadn't come running with the first two, leading her gaze with her pistol.

Her quarry was only feet from her, but coming in fast.

She first aimed for the head, but then remembered Jak's advise on aiming for the chest. Since she was a poor shot, it was better to go for the biggest part of the animal.

She fired three times, knowing she'd hit by the scream and the fact that it fell over. She wasn't sure if it was dead, but it didn't matter. She heard another shot that wasn't hers; Jak had taken out the gunner while she still had it stunned. Jamming her pistol into the holster she pulled her stave into both hands and ran for the downed grunt, making sure it was dead with a swipe to the neck.

She then turned to Jak, panting slightly. This was pretty exciting for her, but she still wore a slight frown. "You didn't have to do that." She said while they didn't have anything attacking them. This was as good a place as any to take a quick breather.

"Do what?" He asked with a shrug, sighting a few KG crates and going to break them, on the search for ammo.

"I had them both taken care of." She replied.

"I took the easy shot. One stunned, one down, figured I'd save a bullet. Or two, in your case."

She took the moment to clean the blades of her stave, shaking her head. "I felt like I was finally getting a hang of it was all. You sniping my kills..." She snorted, only mildly upset. He was right; it was the easy shot.

"Hey, you wanna stop me?" He returned with a few extra yellow cartridges for her. "Shoot 'em faster."

"Guys, I think this is the wrong thing to be competing over." Daxter had to put his two cents in. "How about we all just survive and not have a big balls contest over it?"

"She'd automatically lose." Jak snickered.

"Hey, girls have balls too!" Loor patted her chest, indicating her breasts. "And they're usually bigger."

There was a beat of silence before the three of them cracked up.

"But what about the guys who work out so much they develop boobs?" Dax asked. "Do they get bonus points for having two sets?"

"Only if they can make their chesticles dance." Loor said, containing a giggle.

"You two can discuss the scoring system later." Jak bumped his shoulder up to shake Dax a little. "Let's move; if there's more metal heads out here they're closer to this... 'sacred site' than we are, and that's a problem."

"I bet there's some lame-o statue there, or something else like that." Daxter rolled his eyes, getting down again to hang on to Jak's shoulder armor. "Torn probably gets his panties in a knot cause he doesn't want metal heads all over a place where he nearly got killed with all his other KG buddies."

Loor followed, doing her level best to keep her mouth shut and her brain blank. She rolled her shoulders, trying to relax after some of the moves she'd managed to pull off. Honestly, if she held out her hand, she knew she'd be shaking like a dog. Only by staying on the move and laughing the tension off with the guys was she keeping her head together.

Ahead the building was a little more intact, an actual room with most of its ceiling opening up in front of them. Jak was just about to enter said area when he stopped. Something had him on edge, and he glanced around. Loor stopped too, about two yards behind him.

In a moment, she'd be very glad for that distance. She was still under the tiny bit of ceiling in this area; the broken rocks that were still held up by the stone pillars. Jak was at the edge, and though he was looking left and right he should have been looking up.

Two grunts leapt form the top, nearly right on top of him.

She felt it before she saw it, since Jak's form was blocked by blue scales and thrashing tails. All of the hair on her body stood straight up, small shocks making lesser muscle groups twitch. Her next hint was Daxter suddenly leapt from the dog pile, running to a corner unknown to hide.

Both of the metal heads went flying. One was missing its lower jaw, the serpentine tongue lolling as it landed, rolled, and quickly started to choke on its own blood. The other had five thin but deep slash marks in its chest.

Claw marks.

Jak's gun was left on the ground as a much lighter skinned creature stood up in his place, gray hair traced by a spark of purple lighting, black horns rising from the silver tangle. Ebony claws were extended, each finger bending and stretching in turn, like going up the scale of an imaginary piano.

Loor dropped her weapon and did the same as Daxter; ran to hide. Still, she was a much larger creature than Dax, and sure to be unsuccessful with such little cover available to her. All that was there were those stone pillars, a pitiful excuse for a hiding place, but it gave her something to put her back against in her panic.

She also knew she'd been seen by the monster.

She'd made such brief contact with those pitch-black eyes as his head had turned.

She was alone, with Dark prowling.

* * *

**The Author's Corner**

HOLY SHIT you people have no idea how excited I was getting about re-writing this encounter. I won't say much, but that I am SO excited for the next chapter.

MEOW!

-Loor


	23. Frustration

**CLEANED UP**

**Clean up notes for this chapter: **Some minor event changes, major change to Loor and Lyra's interaction in this chapter, and just plowing along.

**Disclaimer: This is a work of fanfiction for which I am receiving no monetary gain. **

**Vacation Or War  
****Chapter Twenty Three- Frustration**

Loor was holding herself, looking straight forward to allow her peripheral vision give her a dim view of either side of the pillar she was leaning against. She didn't dare move her head or even her eyes from side to side, afraid that in looking one way she'd miss him coming from the other.

It was only a matter of time; he saw her run. What had been the point of running? There was no where for her to go. Every second was agony, fear pounding against her ear drums at a frantic pace, her jaw clenched and air coming in and out of her nose in short bursts.

And against her terror, a naïve curiosity bloomed.

_**What's going on?**_

Loor tossed her body left as she saw something move to her right, turning to face it as the creature she knew as Dark pounced on the place she'd been previously. _Not a good time! _

Curiosity changed to shock, and then the emotion muted. Lyra understood that Loor was afraid for her life, and any emotional distraction would be detrimental.

Lauren was left to back away from the creature that was staring at her. Jak was both slightly larger than her and stronger than her; Dark had eco powering all of those base resources to the absolute limit, making him practically unstoppable. She was unarmed, but she honestly didn't want to be armed. Any damage she inflicted would be Jak's to deal with after the fact.

Dark made another leap at her, a taloned hand reaching out as she jumped to the side. The miss was narrow, and he was closer now. He wouldn't miss next time unless she figured something out. His face was twisted into a dangerous snarl, fangs showcased, eyes narrowed and focused.

She was shaking, terrified, but such adrenaline kicked her into action once she had an idea.

Running wasn't going to get her anywhere.

She dove at him, hitting his mid section and knocking him down. She also rolled right over him, getting back to her feet in a crouch and scrambling to be completely upright again. Sadly she didn't move fast enough; he was on her before she was even half-way there, taking her back to the ground.

The stone hurt, skinning her shoulders as she was forced down and slid slightly. He was right on top of her, pushing her around to her back to stare down and take in that last moment of horror.

She was sure it was the last moment. He had her pinned, pinning her arms with his hands, legs held by his own, the rest of his weight keeping her from trying to roll him off. Such a pose would have felt intimate if she weren't so sure she was about to be eviscerated.

His horns threatened her face, shoving her chin up and exposing her neck, her shoulders trying to shoot up to protect such a vital area but unable to move against his hold. He had full control of her; she wasn't going anywhere.

A shudder ran through her as his head dropped, and she could feel the smooth of his fangs against her neck. Fear and terror turned from icy cold to a burning heat that renewed her struggles, but to no avail. His jaw was coming open, the sharp edge of those fangs against the vain that pounded blood so frantically through her body.

In the final moment she let out a scream, as if it would help her.

His jaw didn't close. There was a moment's hesitation before his weight lifted off of her, along with the teeth pressed to her neck. Her first reaction was to get free, rolling him off and tripping to her feet, pushing her chin down to her collar while squeezing herself again. She was out of her mind, unsure of what just happened but feeling terribly vulnerable. She wanted to cry but couldn't manage it, too focused on the need to take action if she were set upon again.

"Loor?"

Her body exhibited a twitch. Finally letting go of her own shoulders she reached to clear her hair from her face; it had blinded her during the tussle on the ground, preventing her from knowing exactly what happened.

Jak stood where Dark had pinned her, his eyes great aqua orbs, pressing at her, waiting for her to say something.

She opened her mouth, but no sound came out. No matter how hard she tried, all she managed was, "I... he... I never..."

Jak turned from her, looking down as Daxter returned from wherever he'd scampered off to. "I get it." He said. "I scared you."

"Not you!" She broke out defiantly. "_Him!" _

He looked back while retrieving the morph gun, which he'd discarded upon transformation. His face expressed some sort of surprise, and Daxter was looking too. Dax was giving her a skeptic look, as if he through she was crazy, but Jak's face expressed a wound she'd addressed. "Most people can't tell the difference." He said glumly.

She couldn't stand it. She knew exactly where he was coming from, experiencing a split that was as sure as having two people living in the same head, and yet the city would slowly get to know him and the monster in him as one in the same. Even Daxter addressed Jak as 'having super moves' instead of noting that there was difference between the two personalities. This was more than some anger issues; this was something both she and he were going to have to live with for the rest of their miserable lives.

She took a few quick steps, pulling him into a hug before she could talk herself out of it. It was her reflex; she couldn't stand a person, friend or foe, going through hell and going unaided. She'd jumped to the defense of total strangers before, but she felt all the more vehemently about this than anything else. She had to let him know he wasn't alone.

It was an odd moment. She was behind him, so if there was a hug to return he wasn't facing the right way to do it. Not that she even knew if he wanted to. Maybe he felt like she was a strange little girl, and was just waiting for her to let go so he could tell her to never touch him again. So she let go, walked briskly to retrieve her own dropped weapon, and spoke without looking back.

"I... I'll go back to the underground. You boys finish up here, and I'll meet you back there, alright?"

"What? Loor, babe, you made it this far, c'mon –"

The ottsel let off a short yelp, as if he'd been suddenly surprised.

"It's cool." Jak said. "We'll be back soon."

Loor started walking, moving quickly to get back to the underground, only hearing Dax's final complaint.

"Jeez, Jak, that was my tail. That thing is attached, you know."

* * *

_**That was... interesting. **_

_Try terrifying! Metal heads are one thing, but... I couldn't fight back... _

Loor was back on the roof, rocking back and forth while curled up and holding her own knees. She knew Torn was below, waiting to hear good news from the trouble twins, so going in was not an option open to her. Not that she wanted to; she wanted time to herself now that Lyra was active again.

_**You didn't need to, from what I saw. The male has the same fangs and claws that I do; he could have had you on the first swipe, but instead he chose to toy with you. Most interesting... **_

Lyra's mental voice let off with a purr, those little fingers ticking through Lauren's memories again. The creature had to catch up on what happened while she was too low on eco to join her host in experiencing the world.

_Why the hell would he do that? If you're any example, I'd say Dark isn't one to beat around the bush. _

_**Such a creative name. **_The beast's tone was sarcastic. **_And he wasn't, if I'm correct in what he was really after. You knew it too, just at the last second. And even better, you liked it. _**

_Liked what? Nearly getting my jugular ripped out? I think not! _

_**No, no, not at all Little Loor. He was asserting dominance. **_Again a particular memory was drawn out, Lyra's entertainment with the situation increasing exponentially as Loor joined her in revisiting it.

_UGH! _She girl put her hands to her forehead, taking fistfuls of her hair as she yanked back from the thought. _I'm never going to live that down! _

_**It wasn't a bad idea, just bad timing. Next time you decide to sunbathe, make sure no one is going to come looking for you. Your recollection of how it feels to lay on a warm rock in the sun is quite delicious... but back to the point; they saw you.**_

_What point are you making? Jak and Dax saw me, so what? Jak didn't wanna look at me till I was decent. He acted like it made him horribly uncomfortable. _

_**Not Jak and his little pet, him and his beast! They saw you! Even locked away, I see what you see. I can pick through your memories, though quietly. Either way, it seems you and Jak have yet another thing in common. **_

_And what the fuck is that?  
_

_**You really hate it when your... 'darker' side takes an interest. Like I said, he saw you, in all your sunbathing glory. Both of them. **_

Loor's head lifted from her knees, arms tightening on her legs. _Oh my God. You think he was...?_

**_I know he was. If he wanted to kill you, he simply would have impaled you through the ribs from behind when you tackled him over, and ripped apart your lungs. And you... _**Lyra trailed off, having a giggle fit that mixed up with her beastly purring.

_What about me?_

"Lauren, you up there?"

The girl jumped up from her spot on the roof to get to the edge, looking down to find Jak looking up. Daxter was nowhere to be seen, and she didn't question for the moment. "Um... yeah."

"No zoomer." He commented, looking left and right. "How'd you get up?"

"Tried climbing up for once." She reached back to show off the fact that she wasn't wearing her boots. "It's actually pretty easy, if you're a good climber."

"Wanna come down?" He asked, looking none too thrilled about trying to get up her way.

She managed a small smile, motioning for him to move over before dropping her boots over the side, then turning herself to climb down. She remembered her foot and handholds from last time, getting down a bit faster and jumping the last few feet.

She then turned around to face him, realizing she was a full inch shorter without her boots. This fact annoyed her, but only slightly.

"What did he do?" Jak asked.

She blinked. Of course, he was left with the same holes in his memory that she was. She wasn't sure how much to tell him at first, and stalled by looking herself over. "No cuts, only a few bruises."

He took her wrist to pull out her arm, showcasing her skun shoulder. "He had you on the ground."

"So did you, the other night." She was trying to be flip. She didn't wanna think about the fact that Dark might have been trying to...

That would make him just as bad as Lyra.

"Lauren." He let go of her, his face growing all the more serious. "C'mon."

"You came around when he finally pinned me. That was the only time. He was about to rip my throat out, but you woke up, so it's okay." She offered him a smaller, more pleading smile. She wanted him to put it behind him and move on.

"He..." Jak trailed. "He wasn't –"

"Hey, guys!"

Both Jak and Loor turned to see Dax standing in the doorway to the underground.

"Torn won't let me in without you two." The ottsel groused. "Can we move?"

Loor nodded quickly, looking to Jak. "We'll talk later." She assured. "Okay?"

He looked like he wanted to argue, but the fact was that the boys were there to meet the Shadow and get on with fighting the Baron. Jak seemed to remember this rather slowly, nodding and moving for the door, Dax scaling up to his shoulder. Loor just picked her boots up, walking in after them.

Torn was waiting for them inside, visually verifying everyone before speaking. "The Shadow has decided it's time to meet you." He said, arms crossed.

"Why is that place in the old ruins so important to you?" Jak asked, apparently another topic burning on his brain.

"There's a powerful energy force at the old house." Torn snapped. "The metal heads are drawn to it."

No one would notice that Loor was slowly scooting of to the side, trying to hide herself.

"No kidding?" Jak didn't seem too surprised about the power about the old house. "We used to know the guy that lived there."

Torn finally moved aside as someone further in the room started speaking. He was a short man, with a green afro just beginning to turn white, a log embedded in it, along with a bird's egg.

The Shadow. Also known as Samos. "So, you're the new recruits who keep getting into trouble."

"Oh no, not you!" Dax protested.

"Welcome to our humble underground movement. I am known as the Shadow, but you may call me Samos. And you are?"

"Sheesh Jak, we went through all that to meet his holiness, ol' log on the head, grandpa green?"

Jak sounded a tad lost. "Don't you know who we are?"

"Sorry kid, never seen you before. And I _never_ forget a face, especially one that ugly." He said, pointing at Daxter.

Dax was unimpressed. "So it begins..."

"How is this possible?" Jak asked, ignoring present company and laying it all out. He didn't care if Torn knew what had happened, or decided to think he was crazy for saying what he was about to say. "We came through the rift with you, into the future, right?"

"Yeah!" Dax threw in. "You used to look older than dirt, and uglier than a knotted stump. What gives? You get a little nip and tuck while we were gone?"

The Shadow had grown irritated. "Listen boys, I don't know what kind of twigs you've been chewing on, but I don't have time for this. We've got a Baron to overthrow, a child heir to protect, an invasion of metal heads to stop, and a city to save. I'd say the schedule's pretty full! Besides, I haven't gone through any rifts. I _hate_ teleporting!"

"Sure sounds like the ol' Samos..." Daxter grumped with a roll of his eyes.

"Right now I need you to go to Haven forest and root out a few metal heads. That forest is my source of power, but I can't protect it much longer. Chase down and destroy all the metal head scouts you find there. Good luck... and welcome to the fight!"

Jak was too confused to argue, getting Dax to get back up on his shoulder from where he'd jumped down to examine Samos in detail, turning to go back to the door. Torn just stood aside, looking a bit upset on how they disrespected the Shadow but saying nothing.

Loor was already most of the way up the stairs to the outside. She had her boots back on, having strapped in while everyone was talking, but she didn't seem to be hurrying ahead to get moving; she seemed upset.

Getting to the street, Jak stopped her. "What's up?"

Loor wanted to act. She wanted to turn around and play dumb, but the problem was the fact that she was getting upset. She wanted to pretend to be confused, but there was a problem.

She didn't wanna lie to him. It didn't matter if it wasn't direct, pretending to be confused was the pure dishonesty she'd been practicing for years... and for the first time in her life she had trouble dong it. And she expected the boys expected her to be confused. They expected to come out here and answer questions...

And instead she wouldn't turn around. The air had turned tense again, that feeling that made all three of them brace against some sort of impending disaster.

It didn't take Jak long. "You... you already knew, didn't you?"

"I can't lie to you." She muttered, sure the significance of that statement hit her harder than it hit him. She _couldn't_ lie to him. She could lie to anyone; friends, family, old ladies at church, it didn't matter!

But in even thinking about it, she felt a bubble form in her throat, like she just couldn't breathe till she turned her mind away.

There was a pause that she finally spoke in. "But I also can't tell you."

"How?" Daxter asked. "We... we just found out. How could you...? And Samos, he doesn't know either!"

She finally turned. She faced them head on with a tight line making her lips. "It isn't my place to tell you. I... I'm sorry. I can't."

She blinked.

A tear escaped. Frustration made her neck tight. She wanted to tell them everything, but hadn't the courage to do so. She feared what changes she might create; she could predict none but feared that the almighty power of human unpredictability was beyond her ability to calculate.

"Go to bed." Jak commanded abruptly. "_We'll_ talk later."

She didn't argue, cleaning her face and moving past them.

"I want the truth." Jak said as she passed.

"And I want to disappear as soon as possible."

* * *

**The Author's Corner**

ACK! Numb fingertips... need sleep... ugh. I work too hard. .

BUT I love this story, so perhaps not hard enough.

See you next time punks.

-Loor


	24. Ending Deception

**CLEANED UP**

**Clean up notes for this chapter: **Practically new content-wise. Hope everyone enjoys Loor's toes.

**Disclaimer: I don't own Jak and Daxter**

**Vacation or War  
****Chapter Twenty Four- Ending Deception**

Loor awoke to someone shaking her roughly, recognizing a hand on her shoulder but also one over her mouth. This made panic snap through, her usual jump-start to getting conscious given an extra kick in the ass. Her head whipped, trying to get free of the cover on her lips, but the same hand that held her shoulder also held her still with an iron clad grip.

Finally her eyes came open to see Jak presiding over her. It was dark in the underground, the lamp over the map table off and Torn audibly snoring. Ah, Jak was making sure she didn't yelp when he woke her up.

But such cation made her assume it was some ungodly hour. Why was he waking her up?

"We need to talk." He hissed, finally taking his hand back when he verified she was awake and calming down.

_Oh. Right. _She'd forgotten about the fact that her being tight-lipped about her oddly omniscient knowledge had upset him enough to toss her from a mission and send her to bed. "Now?" She groaned.

"Unless you wanna talk about it in front of Dax, who'll probably blab everything to the rest of Haven before you can stop him."

"You think I didn't say anything because I didn't trust you guys?" Aggression snapped through her, but he covered her mouth again before she could raise her voice. He then jerked his head towards the door, indicating that if she couldn't keep cool they'd go outside.

She nodded, hefting herself out of bed but taking her blanket with her; she had been awful warm. The evening was only slightly chill, but she wanted to carry the warmth with her. Getting out onto the street, she turned around to look at him following her out. "Alright..." She let a sigh go, the cool air invading her lungs and driving away the last traces of sleep. "Um... shoot, I guess."

"You clearly know more than you're letting on." Jak stated at once, coming out of his stage whisper but his voice still growling. "I noticed it back when we visited the oracle; when you had your first transformation, you weren't even surprised, like you knew it was going to happen sooner or later. I figured you were acting, keeping it wrapped up, but... on that last mission, you were too ready to get out of there once given an excuse... you weren't that freaked out by Dark; you _knew_ what me and Dax were going to find, and didn't wanna be there when we did."

"Not much of a question in there." She noted dryly.

"I was expecting you to deny it, at least."

"I already told you." She used one hand to hold her blanket around her shoulders while rubbing her forehead with the other. "I don't want to lie to you... not that you would get how fucking weird that is."

"I'm all ears. Explain just how weird that is."

"Jak, lying is something I do so often it could be my day-job. It doesn't matter who, I built a whole second life for myself so my _family_ never knew what I was up to. Friends? Them too. I had Fury half convinced this was all just a horrible dream before..." The girl trailed off. "It's not that I was doing anything wrong, I just never like people knowing what I'm up to, because they ask questions and get in the way. Deception is near second-nature, I actually have to stop and think sometimes to tell the truth."

He blinked. He had crossed his arms over his chest, a clearly skeptic look on his face, but he allowed the statement to develop. "So why can't you lie to me, make me think you're just as clueless as Dax and I are?"

"I'm a decent actress... not great. Plus I'm better at pretending to know stuff verses pretending I don't. That and..." She drew in that cool air. She wanted it to sooth her mind and let her speak clearly. "You're kinda my hero. Who wants to lie to someone they'd kill to be like?"

"You're halfway there." He noted with a frown.

"Not that part..." She shook her head while drawing her hand back under the blanket; it felt colder than it was to her. "But the honest to Mar truth is this; I can't tell you a damn thing of what I know, or how I know it. I'm serious when I say the information has _dangerous_ ramifications. It's not some otherworldly thing like Onin... it's more to do with where I come from."

"You're not from the future of this place, are you?" He was being serious, eyebrows now raised.

"Not even close. If I was, do you think I'd have made the dumb move of getting captured by the KG?" She snorted. "Fuck no."

"So... how much do you know?"

She stared at him before looking down to avoid his gaze. What harm could she cause? Just him knowing that she knew, would that affect his actions in the future? She couldn't predict, and it drove her crazy. But she _wanted_ to tell him. She wanted to just tell him what he wanted to know and help him. It was odd, because she'd never been that much of a people pleaser before. Sure, savior complex, but she often took joy in torturing others with things they didn't know that she did.

_Why?_

_**Isn't it obvious, dearest? You like him. **_

The chill of the evening left her shoulders as she felt someone taking her into their arms. She lifted her head to realize that her hug had been returned, several hours later. Jak was holding her around her middle, her head suddenly bent under his chin, leaning into the crook of his neck. "Nevermind."

"Wha–?"

"I don't want you to lie to me either. If you think it's dangerous to say anything... don't." He then chuckled softly. "Though I do have one more question..."

"Hmm?" She didn't bother to form an actual word, relaxing against his chest. He wasn't wearing his holster, so there was no stupid metal ring in the way. And he was warmer than her bed had been.

"Why did you hug me before? Don't say it's cause I'm your hero... by all means, you should have been afraid to touch me..."

She smiled while giggling along. "That's just the thing... I was able to understand how you felt; being seen as _just_ the monster... I couldn't leave you like that. Anyway..." She pulled back, although reluctantly. "I got you to smile, didn't I?"

He blinked, realizing the mentioned expression was on his face. "Damn, not even close to the end of the week." He snickered, referencing the bet she'd made with him before. "I'd been planning to try and build the suspense for a while... you'll have to settle for an IOU."

"No, I got a different way you could pay me back." She said, her own smile dropping a bit as she turned her mind to recent issues she was worried about. "If you wouldn't mind answering a question that might a little... sensitive for you."

"Depends. What is it?"

"You were talking about Dark earlier, what he was trying to do. You knew his intentions?"

Jak stared and knew that the look on her face meant she had already guessed at it, but wanted to have her guess validated by the one person who would actually know. Well, aside from Dark himself, but it was a little difficult to ask him directly. "He..." The answer to the question made him uncomfortable. "He wasn't trying to kill you... He..."

"Was trying to assert dominance?" Loor used Lyra's words as Jak struggled to find the right ones himself.

"That's one way to say it..."

"I'm guessing my sunbathing stunt didn't help." She sighed, the truth made proper in her mind. Dark had been trying to... well, rape was the right word, since she would have been an unwilling participant. "I'll have to be more careful." She then moved to go back inside and escape from the cold of the outside. He held a moment before moving to follow, finding her stopped in the doorway and looking back. "The feeling is... mutual, by the way." She said. "Lyra feels the same way about you, just so you have fair warning the next time she gets out... once she runs out of things to rip apart, she might come after you."

"Jeez..." He sighed. "I think I liked it better when he was just bloodthirsty. Sees his first woman..." He cleared his throat, "_exposed... _and suddenly he has Dax's view on the world... plus fangs."

"Surprised it even took that. I haven't even seen you in full light with your shirt off, and Lyra..." The girl trailed off. She didn't actually want to put words to what Lyra wanted from him. "I think that whole stereotype about men thinking about sex more is bullshit; girls are just quieter about it."

This got him to crack a wily smirk at her. "You're saying you, as a woman, think about sex more than Dax?"

"Naw." She giggled, turning the rest of the way and leaning in the doorway. "But you? Most likely." She tapped her forehead. "A lot of fantasies up in this noggin."

"Do I dare ask?"

"That would depend. Do you?"

"Would you tell me if I did?"

He got a coy giggle out of the exchange as she stretched in the doorway, letting out a long yawn. Her upper lip lifted, showing her teeth briefly before a high pitched squeak emitted from her mouth. Her mood plummeted with it, covering her mouth while glancing around, surprised and embarrassed.

He snickered at her; she was again reminding him of someone who was trying way too hard to be grown up, not quite there yet and attempting to control everything about themselves.

"I swear I've never done that before." She practically whimpered. "What the _fuck _was that?"

"I call bullshit. You did that when Dax and I caught you... sunning yourself."

"Fine, I've never done that during times my memory was engaged. Sleeping doesn't count." She kept her face covered by her hands, her cheeks burning. "Good Christ, I'm never letting myself yawn ever again."

"Why not?" He teased, stopping just a foot short of the doorway. "It's kinda _cute." _

Loor's head snapped to stare directly at him, laser-locked.

If looks could kill, Jakkie-boy would have been pushing up daises.

"I am _**not**_ anything of the sort." She seethed, eyes narrowed into a dangerous glare. "You ever use that word again, I swear I'll deck you. And this time I won't miss."

He grinned, not able to help himself in messing with her. "Awe... you got any bite to go with all that bark?"

She audibly growled; she wanted to tackle him and try to teach him a lesson, but their wrestling match the night before had already given her a preview of where that train of action would go. Instead she decided the best reaction was the literal one.

She grabbed his forearm and bit him.

"Hey!" He yanked away from her, finding red teethmarks where she decided to chew on him.

She'd gone back to giggly at that, giving him a toothy grin. "Hey, buddy boy, you asked."

"Your sudden honesty streak is dangerous." He rubbed his arm; she hadn't bothered being any sort of gentle. He was lucky she didn't draw blood.

"You won't get answers unless you ask questions, so you technically brought it upon yourself." She then stuck her tongue out. "C'mon, we should be sleeping. Shit's only gonna keep coming down the pipe from here."

"You know that for a fact?" He finally joined her in the doorway, stalling in case she wanted to slip ahead of him on the stairs.

"Sorta. It's just a good idea to catch the Z's where you can find 'em. They can be slippery little buggers."

He snickered, but said nothing. Silence settled in, but it wasn't an uncomfortable one; they just stood there, neither one feeling the urge to descend the stairs first. She was looking down, wiggling her toes on the pavement and then nudging his foot. He wasn't wearing boots either; he must have taken off his gear before having woken her up to talk. Of course her nudge made him look down and nudge back, to which she took her overly flexible toes and used them to grab ahold of his pant leg.

"That... is just a little creepy."

She snickered, pulling before putting her foot back down. "Why? It's like having a second set of hands... that I walk with."

"That's why it's creepy." He shook his head, showing that the limit of his toe dexterity was to fan them out and curl them down, where she matched his fan and curl with being able to individually curl the first three toes on either foot, and snapping her big toe with the pointer toe. He watched before shuddering, poking her. "Stop it... that is so weird."

"Not the weirdest thing I do, I assure you."

"Yeah, the yawning has got your toes beat."

She growled, socking him in the side as he raised his arms to protect his face and hide the fact that he was laughing. "Hey! I need those kidneys!"

"You're young, they can take a little bruising!" She gave him a second, softer shot before finally moving to go down the stairs and go to bed. It was late, and though she felt awake from talking she knew she'd be able to fall right back into bed. Anyway, she wasn't used to talking with boys without yelling at them for not treating her as an equal. Jak didn't just treat her as an equal, he expected her to keep up with him. It felt good and scary at the same time. And the fact that he _hugged _her-

She felt him grab her wrist, stopping her and pulling her back for just a moment more.

"Hey..." He sounded like the nervous one now. "Listen... thanks... about earlier. I mean, I know you get it and all... cause you're the same... but... well, when everyone else looks at you like a monster..."

"You start to believe it?" She turned her head, offering a smile.

"Yeah." He nodded, the look on his face saying he'd just stepped into a strange place in his mind; he never expected anyone to understand his plight, and there she was with the same problem.

She stepped back up and hugged him again. She couldn't help it. This time, with him finally facing her, it was a shared action. She felt her usual happy buzz from helping someone through their personal misery, but she also felt something else. It was something that stuck with her when they finally separated and went to bed, curling up with her blanket and pillow and putting her head down for the night.

It was somewhere between the warm fuzzy feeling in her chest and the smile on her face.

_**How cute... crushing on your hero.**_

Loor was too close to sleep to argue.

* * *

**The Author's Corner**

HOLY SHIT It's a romance plot. With... like... actual cuteness, not Loor's constant babbling. EEP.

Hope everyone liked it, even though it was a very dialog heavy chapter. I tried to make it interesting! MEOW!

Loor needs to sleep now; she has work tomorrow.

Next time punks.

-Loor


	25. A Dangerous Game

**CLEANED UP**

**Clean-up notes for this chapter: **Showing Loor's mental room a little earlier, so I don't have to build it all at once. Also changed up the escorting the kid mission a little bit; that mission would have been so much fucking easier if you could have just picked the kid up and ran. BTW You might notice that fuck is kinda my word tonight. I just noticed; I think I've used it like eight times in this chapter. I love cursing...

**Disclaimer: I do not own Jak and Daxter. **

**Vacation or War  
****Chapter Twenty Five- A Dangerous Game**

Lauren had a dream. She imagined she was in a room that was crafted into anything she imagined; if she could see it in her mind's eye, there is was under her feet. It shifted here and there, the whole thing like a blanket batted in the wind until the floor settled into a thick carpet of green, pillows of similar shades getting tossed about as walls swept up around, making her dizzy enough to fall back onto the floor. It didn't hurt; she landed on the pillows and found them to be downy-soft. As the walls rose up, they vanished into infinity. The room lacked a ceiling, simply getting lost in black.

She stared up at this empty space before noting that there was something in this room that wasn't a variation of forest green; the walls. They were a deep purple, and a loft of dark wood was morphing out, ringing the room, overflowing with more pillows and blankets. This struck her; it wasn't something of her own design. Why? This was her place, her dream. Why was there something she didn't create, and couldn't control?

_**So selfish...**_

Oh. Of course, she wasn't alone in her mind, and thus couldn't be alone in her dreams. Still, Lyra's presence was something she was only dully aware of, and didn't bother with as she felt herself turn to a state of total comfort. Warmth radiated, and she felt as if the black of the ceiling was descending on her and her room. It wasn't long till she just closed her eyes as it became too dim to see.

_Why am I so happy? What's got me so... giddy? _

The question passed without going to memory, and thus without effect on her flight of fancy. Her eyes remained useless, but the warmth took a more solid presence. The feeling of being held, the sensation of being kept safe in another's arms; it was something she would usually reject but currently found most comforting. She wanted to hold onto it; she didn't want to be alone.

_I don't want to be alone anymore. I'm sick of it. _

She wanted to keep this feeling, but the harder she tried to imprint the exact sensation on her memory, the more it slipped away.

_I don't want to be alone. _

_**You don't have to be. Just chase what you want. **_

_What if it's wrong? _

That growling chuckle... Lyra's melodic and animal-like giggle as the last of the warmth slid away from her. It disturbed her.

_**Who cares? **_

* * *

Lauren awoke with little memory of her subconscious activity, and once she filed what she did remember as irrelevant she sat up out of bed with a shrug of dismissal. Torn was awake, and movement on the top bunk told her Jak was moving too. Without pondering any longer she began to put on her gear, the final piece being her scarf, standing and stretching her arms up over her head.

"The Shadow is outside, waiting for you three." Torn said, not looking up from whatever he was studying. "The Kid is with him."

"Didn't Kor take him yesterday?" Loor asked as Jak came down from his bunk, going across to get Daxter up.

"We move the Kid around a lot to keep him safe. It's our turn, but something's come up; we don't got time to watch him. The Shadow will explain when you talk to him. He's just outside." Torn finally looked up. "Get moving; the Baron has stepped up all of his patrols since you idiots 'tripped a few alarms' up there."

"She didn't do anything." Jak defended again, though it was little more than a grumpy mumble, a sleepy Daxter sitting on his shoulder and clinging to his hair. All suited up and ready to go, they proceeded to the stairs. Following Jak out, Lauren noticed he now had the jet-board. Guy must have been busy last night.

It was still early, the sun still rising to full strength and taking the cool night air with it. It was going to be another warm and clear day in Haven. Just to the left of the door, the Shadow was standing with the Kid chasing a dog-like creature in a circle around him. Loor smiled, since the crocodog was even cuter for real than he had been animated.

This young version of Samos was too happy to see them. "I want you three to escort the Kid over to Kor at the power station. He promised to look out for the boy, and I'm just too busy to baby-sit right now." He stepped to one side as the kid almost ran into him, irritated with the hyperactive youth. The dog was next, prompting him to add on; "Oh, and take the Kid's crocodog with you!"

The crocodog seemed to know that he was being talked about, stopping and turning to growl at Samos.

"Oh... heh.." He chuckled nervously. "Isn't he sweet?"

"So what's this kid's story?" Jak asked.

"I found him just wandering the streets, but that amulet around his neck means he just may be the lost heir to the city."

The Kid stopped running, looking up as both Jak and Loor took a moment to look at him. The amulet around his neck was the seal of Mar. Loor wondered; did that technically make Jak a prince? Prince of Haven city wasn't exactly a title she'd go for, but it was interesting to think about.

"Take the Kid and the mutt to the power station." Samos ordered as the child ran to Jak, making an attempt to hold his hand that caused Jak to pull back in surprise. "Watch out for guard patrols and defend the Kid at all costs. Oh... and if you happen to lose the crocodog..."

Said animal growled at Samos again before turning to trot ahead of the group. The kid forgot his failed attempt at holding Jak's hand to chase after the animal, taking off before anyone could stop him.

"Hey!" Jak turned. "Kid, wait up!"

Loor was made even more upset by the kid suddenly running ahead; she knew what was about to happen. The general alert was about to be raised as the Baron ordered every child in the city to be arrested. On what grounds? She had no idea. But it didn't matter, it came naturally to run after the child and scoop him up so he couldn't run away anymore, holding him against her right hip and drawing her weapon with her left hand.

At first the Kid struggled, wanting to chase the dog, and Lauren figured the only way to appease the child without letting him go would be to chase the dog for him.

She ran right into a fire fight. Neither the dog nor the child seemed to care, as the dog kept running, occasionally turning back and barking for the kid, and the kid kept fussing as Loor stalled, looking around as the boys in red were coming from pretty much all directions. She could knock them back at close range with her weapon, but she hardly could keep her head together enough to kill dumb animals like metal heads. The idea of ending an intelligent life, a _human_ life, made her stomach churn.

The two closest to her suddenly suffered bullets to the brain. She looked back to find Jak was covering her, and had none of her squeamishness. "Move!" He ordered her. "Just keep moving, I'll watch your ass."

"Follow that dog!" Daxter had finally woken up, and could see the Kid was going to wiggle free of Loor's arms if she didn't give chase to the stupid animal.

Loor rounded, doing as she was told. She ducked low, tucking the kid against her body the best she could, and started pumping her legs to chase the dog. It was similar to cradling a football... a really big football that squirmed around to see his pet. Of course several KG saw her trying to charge through, and tried to get in the way. That's when her weapon got useful. She didn't aim to bat them out of the way.

Instead she squeezed the middle, blue sparks snapping as she used the weapon as a cattle prod, shoving aside guards that didn't fall over once stunned, leaping over those who did. She didn't know how many bullets cut close to her or the Kid, she just kept an eye on the crocodog and wherever it was running.

Turned out the dog seemed to understand the danger, as it leapt for a parked zoomer. It was one of the large, three-person ones. Loor didn't argue with the scaly canine, saddling up and looking back to see if Jak was keeping up, turning the Kid to face her and holding him to her chest.

Jak was a few yards behind, but it might as well have been a mile. He was shooting guards literally left and right, protecting their getaway.

"Get movin'!" Daxter yelled from the crush of red armor. "We'll catch up!"

She spared a nod, putting her weapon away, turning over the zoomer's engine and bringing the nose around to aim for the industrial section. She hoped Jak caught up fast, because she didn't have a pass to enter south town alone.

She wondered how he got surrounded like that; had he been so single minded in protecting her that he hadn't watched his own back? Jak was incredibly protective of his friend's well-being, but was it enough to put himself in that kind of danger?

She thought about the mission into the fortress, after Torn betrayed the underground by ratting them all out to the Baron to protect Ashelin. Jak had gone on a near suicide mission to rescue those who had been taken.

Just being his friend was dangerous. What if he got hurt?

Her thoughts were broken into as a single-person zoomer ripped by her, having more agility in the air than her clunky three-person one. She had been trying to be careful, made aware of just how soft the child was just by carrying him. Still, Jak had gotten to her at just the right time; she'd been upon the city checkpoint. Still, he paused in the air.

"Scoot over!" He commanded. "I'll drive."

Shifting seats mid-air was an interesting maneuver, but she did it without protest, one hand spared to hang onto her seat as the other still clutched the Kid, who was fussing again because he couldn't see the crocodog in the seat on the other side of the driver. Jak punched it, of course, being a much more effective driver of the larger class vehicle than Loor was. He soon dropped the vehicle into the lower zone, using the larger engine to push faster than a one-person zoomer and moving into turns earlier to make them properly.

Nearing the power station, he began to put the breaks on. As soon as they slowed, the crocodog leapt out again, running ahead.

"Ack!" Daxter cried. "Not that crocodog again!"

Loor was next to leap out, making her run not to follow the crocodog but to go straight up the ramp to the power station, expecting the dog would chase the Kid with the same devotion that the Kid wanted to chase the dog with. She drew out her weapon again, but also looked back to make sure Jak was on the same page as her. The power station had security doors; the uninvited would never get in.

This time he was right with her, nodding for her to move. As expected the dog ran even faster when the Kid was ahead of him, digging in the keep up and barking. The door was open by the time they arrived at the top, the group diving through and standing just inside as it quickly snapped shut. An alarm blared inside the power station, rude but bearable.

In the middle of the room, looking quite at home with all the commotion, was Kor. Loor put the Kid down, who was all too happy to be removed from her hip, allowing him to totter over to Kor as Daxter hopped down from Jak's shoulder. "Samos told us to bring the kid to you." Daxter said, sounding like he was upset with the arrangement. Of course, it had been quite the wake-up call for the ottsel.

"Thank you." Kor's voice was soft and wheezy, like and old man who had seen too much. Loor would have to give it to him; he was a good actor, but she knew the truth, and could see the secret smile on his face as he laid a hand on the Kid's head, looking down. That smile was not of a kindly caretaker; it was that of a predator with his prey under his paws. "I'll be sure to keep him close."

The dog had trotted after the kid, growling at Kor and keeping a foot's distance.

"How sweet..." He practically groaned.

Jak had stepped up now, giving the dog a quick stroke on the head to try and calm him down. It worked, making the animal whine and draw into a happy smile, slarm dripping down his green scaly jowls. Loor smiled at the crocodog while putting away her weapon once more, as the animal reminded her of her family dog at home; Smokey. He was a pure bred Chow-Chow, a mid-sized fuzzy dog with a terrible attitude unless their master said otherwise, Chow-Chows being a breed that tended to bond with one person. In Smokey's case, that had been her mother. Smokey would growl at anyone until mom walked up, and then he was happy as could be.

"Interesting..." Kor hunched over to examine the dog's happy face. "That insufferable mutt never liked anyone but the boy before..."

Jak chuckled. "I guess I'm just good with animals."

Kor dismissed the subject, shaking his head and his massive beard rippling with the action, turning his head up to the many monitors arranged along the upper reaches of the power station. "I hope we have enough eco to keep the metal heads at bay... during my travels into the deep wasteland I saw some of the bigger ones." He turned back to the others, waving the hand that wasn't occupied with his walking stick. "Awesome creatures."

Daxter nodded a little. "We saw a big one coming out of a rift once. He was _uuuuugly!" _

"Hmmmph..." Kor grunted, a disappointed frown creasing his face. "I have some valuable information for you. The Baron is conducting an excavation at the dig. He is still looking for that ridiculous tomb."

The old man didn't seem to notice as the crocodog decided to relieve himself on the end of his walking stick.

"Frankly, I don't believe it exists, but you might as well go out there and disrupt his operation, just in case."

He then lifted the staff slightly, shaking it dry as the dog trotted over to be by the Kid, who had wandered to look at all the lights of the power station. Kor slammed the stick back down while looking to the trouble twins. "Knock down all the scaffolding at the site; that should set him back. Here is an air train pass to get you out there."

Kor gestured to the kid, who looked over and and pulled a square pass out of his overalls, seeming overjoyed to have it, and even happier to hand it over to Jak. Taking it, Jak looked to Loor.

"You coming on this one?" He asked as Daxter got back up on his shoulder.

"Naw." She answered without hesitation. Knocking down the drill at the dig was something that worked largely with the jet-board; she'd pass on a mission where she'd be next to useless. That and she needed some time to get her head together; she hadn't realized the implications of how just being friendly with Jak could cause him to inadvertently put himself in danger. She had to figure out what to do. "I'll leave you boys to do that yourself... I got some stuff to take care of."

"Trying to run away from us again, huh toots?" Daxter was fully awake now, and once again full of snappy comments. "You gonna leave the second you find out how to get back home?"

"Maybe." She shrugged. "I might stick around long enough to see Errol's head on a pike..."

"_And_ the victory party!" The ottsel insisted. "You gotta have a round with the winning team if you're gonna hang that long!"

"I... um..." She felt herself coloring up. She wanted to say she was horrendously underage for drinking, but had no idea what the drinking age was in Haven, or if there even was one. "We'll see." She finally said. "You two get movin'. Come and find me when you need me, alright?"

Jak smiled at her as Dax gave a fake salute, the two taking their leave.

"You seem a tad soft to be so muddled in this conflict." Kor wheezed behind her. She turned away from the door to look at him again, eyes catching on the large medallion that hung on his forehead, likely hiding the fact that he was a metal head in disguise. "And young... you look mature, and speak like a grown woman, but you still seem... innocent."

"I'm not from around here." She used the fact as a cover. "Experiment gone sour landed me in Haven... I'm not usually the type to be out fighting wars."

"And yet you're part of the underground, where we only take those who have the ability and drive to join the fight." Kor seemed to be challenging her.

"I shot Errol... that was enough for my induction."

"Perhaps... but someone so sore for experience shouldn't be turning down missions with such an experienced agent. It's a wasted opportunity."

"I got my own shit to do." She growled, defaulting to aggression. "So, if you'll excuse me."

"Oh, by all means..." Kor turned to see the kid was pressing buttons on one of the many consoles, though the old man made no move to stop him. "Lauren."

She had turned to the door, the automated portal sliding open. Still, she couldn't help but jolt to a short stop. The way he said her name, it struck her like a brick to the brain. She dared to look back at him, staring.

He was looking back, dark eyes glinting.

He _knew. _She had no idea how, but the fucker _knew. _

She beat feet to get the fuck out of there. She didn't really care where she was going, she just wanted away from there. The idea of being anywhere near Kor was near suffocating. She eventually found herself in the port section, standing on the edge of the road by the water and staring out, wanting to break out running again but restraining herself. She had to calm her brain down; Kor wasn't going to eat her. At least, not today.

_Think girl, think!_ She snapped at herself. _Stop worrying about yourself and think about the real problem here! _

_**Goodness, it doesn't take much to send you into a frenzy, does it?**_

Lyra's silky voice broke her out of her fight-or-flight reaction, finally drawing in a deep breath and letting it out as a sigh, sitting at the port's edge and putting her legs over the side. _Have you looked through all my memories? Do you know what he is?_

_**Just another metal head. I can smell it... though the reek is quite strong on him. His body is producing eco, like some metal heads do for attacks. Surprised the whole race hasn't gone cannibal with their need for it. **_

_You can... smell him? _

_**Most everyone, actually. But you seem disturbed enough at my emotions, I figured the fact that your senses are enhanced while I'm paying attention to them would disturb you further... so I blocked your awareness of it. **_

_That seems oddly nice of you..._

_**Hey, we had a deal, didn't we? You let me watch, I don't fuck with you... often. **_

_Right..._ The Loor had put her head in her hands, swinging her feet slightly over the edge. She tried to ignore Lyra's presence while turning her mind to the real worry at hand; the danger she'd put Jak in by simply existing. The fact that she was a fish out of water was quite prevalent, and unless there was some magic potion for her to drink she wasn't going to suddenly become hero material. She couldn't suddenly abstain from all missions with him; that was sure to raise some kind of alarm that something was wrong that even Daxter wouldn't be able to ignore.

That and Torn would never let her out on her own.

_**Pack more heat.**_ Lyra suggested. **_If you can't get good fast, get something powerful that doesn't require a lot of aim._**

_More guns? _She mentally whined. _I suck bad enough with the one I have now..._

_**With a little practice you're not terrible, or so the boy tells you.**_

_Alright, fine, but where am I going to get said heat? _

_**The woman who first took you in. What was the name...? **_Loor could feel Lyra picking through her memories again, making her wish she could scratch inside her skull. **_Ah, Teek. She had all the heat you could ask for. Maybe even armor. _**

Loor couldn't argue; as much as she disliked the idea of getting something heavier than the pistol she already had it was the best idea available at the moment. Teek's home was back in the slums, near the fortress door. Without a moment more to ponder it, the girl got up and started walking.

She hoped this would help; she needed something to put her mind at ease.

* * *

**The Author's Corner**

Oh GOD I am mean. Really, I am. At least I am to vets.

They all know what's coming...

Keh. Heh. Heh...

ORIGHT! So Loor has a job now, so that whole updating on Fridays thing is out the fucking window. I update when I finish chapters, not a moment before or after. MEOW.

Hope you're all enjoying it.

-Loor


	26. Mousetrap

**CLEANED UP**

**Clean up notes for this chapter: **HOLY SHIT MY WRISTS HURT. Oh, wait, that's not what I'm supposed to be talking about up here. Um... content of this scene remained mainly the same. It just got a whole chapter this time, instead of like... a quarter of one. JEEZ how did I cram shit in like that back then? No idea... meow.

**Disclaimer: I don't own Jak and Daxter. I wish I did... I totally thought of a way TLF could have not sucked. If I ever get rich enough, I'm buying rights and re-making that game into something I can accept as canon. FUCK DARK DAXTER. **

**Vacation or War  
****Chapter Twenty Six- Mousetrap**

Lauren's brain had stopped ticking. Everything had frozen, all thoughts and processes grinding to a stop as if a wrench had been thrown into the gears of her mind. What she stared at was the proverbial wrench, but she didn't want to accept the sight. She wanted to deny it and bend the fabric of reality to make it vanish, but such things were obviously beyond her power.

She had to accept what she saw; let it pass to memory and deal with it.

She had arrived at Teek's home; the door was smashed in. What little that was left had the Baron's symbol burnt into it. The smell of a recent fire ripped at her sensitive nose, and no matter how she squinted her eyes she couldn't see inside the dwelling. Whatever lights had been in there must have been destroyed, leaving a pitch black portal where a beautiful tapestry of color used to be.

Did she dare step into it?

She sucked in a lungful of that rancid air, feeling the compulsion to enter and search for Teek; perhaps the woman had survived the raid. That was clearly what happened; the safe house had been found out and set alight like a powder keg. The damage wasn't too evident from the outside, but that didn't surprise her; it was likely a controlled burn so no one knew that an underground safe house had survived right across the street from the fortress.

Blowing out her lungs, she stepped over the threshold, pulling the tail of her scarf up and over her nose to protect it from the smell. Despite getting out of the light from outside, she still couldn't see. The darkness was consuming, and the reek of smoke seeped through her scarf, the whole room seeming to close in on her.

_**Need a little assitance? **_

Lauren realized that some of her own compulsion had been Lyra's curiosity. She wanted to know what this... Errol character was capable of. She was curious if he was something to challenge... or fear. In that want to know, the beast was willing to help her host, though Lauren hadn't the slightest clue of how the animal planned to do so.

That's when she felt the snap of eco. It came to her skin, made her face tingle before concentrating about her eyes. In a few moments she realized she'd lost control of her eyes, unable to feel or move them. It was strange, and somewhat frightening, until she also came to the realization that the room around her was coming into focus.

_**I learned this on my first time out... my eyes aren't made for light. But the darkness... that's clear as day for me. **_

"Of course..." Loor muttered while putting her hands out for balance. She didn't have any control on where she was looking; using Lyra's eyes meant the beast had control of what she was looking at. It was like having a friend with a flashlight, and in such visibility it left her dizzy while trying to get used to it. "Black eyes... not because they're actually black, just an insanely wide pupil..."

_**What are you mumbling about? **_

_Nothing important. _Loor quickly assured, remembering that Lyra didn't seem to understand spoken English. Given the gift of vision, she could finally see the wreckage.

Honestly, she wished she couldn't. What had been a blend of various shades of red, stretching as far as to include some deep shades of violet and and other swaths having been delicate shades of pink, breaking up the room and giving it an ethereal feel, was now a charred mess. The curtains had been yanked down and burned, the walls left barren and scarred. She now found that this first room of Teek's home was just a large and wide space that she'd broken into a maze with those silky strips of cloth.

All the weapons were gone, chests that had held clothing smashed and smoldering. There was no doubt; this had been a raid. Lyra pulled off to the right, looking back to the walls but unable to survey the area properly until Lauren complied and turned her head. Slowly she did, finding what had caught her beast's attention.

In the far corner, a few curtains had been left untouched. Their beauty had diminished, ash tainting their edges and dulling out the vibrant color, but they were there. It seemed a bit sloppy, for a single corner to have been left untouched, but Lauren didn't dwell on it. The guard wasn't the smartest organization in the world. She turned her attention back to her search for Teek.

There were a few doors, two of which were smashed in. With Lyra's eyes Lauren could see that one of those smashed in doors led to a kitchen, and the other was the room Teek had hidden away in when Lauren had asked for time alone to talk with her sister.

This door was not only smashed, but the Baron's symbol had been drawn in the ashes on the wall next to it.

Prickly fear stung the back of Loor's neck as she swallowed and took the steps forward to see what was within this room. Once she started moving she couldn't stop, Lyra's rampant curiosity like a rope around her middle, dragging her in. Soon she stepped over what was left of the door, and entered a smaller room.

The first thing that struck her was the smell. It was sour, a smell any human being would have a natural aversion to. At first she groped her brain to identify it, find what it was associated with that made her want to back right out of the room on some natural instinct.

_**Death...**_ Lyra hissed, curiosity turning to tense aggression; her own fight-or-flight reaction had engaged, nearly shoving Loor right into the same mind-set.

She was right though; Loor had only had that smell caught in her nose once before, when there had been a dead squirrel under her bed. Her cat, Bojo, had drug it in and never eaten it, and her whole room reeked for days after she discovered it and removed it. Still, this was much stronger. Whatever was dead in this room... was much bigger.

She wanted to see, but Lyra was making her dizzy again, eyes dashing back and forth, scanning for anything that may have posed a threat.

_Take it easy... I need to know what happened here._

Loor's calm but firm thoughts interfered with Lyra's nature, the beast growling begrudgingly before behaving once more, slowly scanning the room and letting her host take it in.

It was a bedroom. Unlike the previous room, it hadn't been burned. No, it was mostly untouched, the bed's scarlet covers neatly folded back from navy pillows, the walls painted the in the same rich blue with multicolored stars, reflecting the tapestry that shined in the true sky every night in this place. Lauren could have easily seen Teek painting this room herself, making it her personal sanctuary.

The crown jewel of the walls was just above the bed's headboard. Dark mountains impressed upon the sky, a dragon curled atop with red scales, each one given painstaking detail.

With such art on the wall, the damage to it stuck out like a flashlight in the inky black. Someone had taken a knife and carved precursor letters into the dragon's hide. Lauren didn't dare step on the bed, walking around the edge to read it.

"Hide and seek...?" She questioned her translation, double checking each letter and finding it to be correct. Someone had carved the words 'Hide and seek' along the dragon's body.

It was signed along the tail.

_Errol. _

_This wasn't just him having fun... he planned this... he knew I'd come back, sooner or later. It... it's a trap. _

She'd been backing away from the wall, her fear growing and only fed by the reek of decay in the room. What calm she'd been able to install in Lyra was quickly taking leave, her vision turning sharper as the animal focused on finding their oppressor before he found them.

Her heel caught on something, sending her tumbling to the white carpet of the room. The girl cursed, rolling over quickly and getting back up, looking to see what tripped her.

Girl and beast locked on to two things. First, the white carpet was stained with dark red. Blood.

Second, there was a hand peeking out from under the bed skirt. An old hand, weathered by hard work and time.

"No..." Loor whispered. It was enough that Errol had left a message for her. Now...

She reached for the hand. It was cold and stiff, making the girl want to recoil and retch, but she still forced herself to grab and pull.

Teek's ridged corpse slid out from under the bed, the eyes open and glassy. Her throat had been slit, but the true mess was the old woman's face. The same knife that had carved the wall had also carved her forehead and across her cheeks and nose. Inscribed in her flesh was the same message as that on the wall.

All of this was for her, she realized. Errol had to be out of his mind, looking for her, after she'd shot him. Now he was aiming to terrify her before snapping her up in his little trap. Well, mission accomplished. She was now staring at her first dead human body, realizing that she was in the room with a corpse.

She was up and out of that room not a moment later, trying to quell her sick stomach. She wanted to run straight out of there, but something held her back.

The curtains in the corner. Errol had been directly involved in this operation, which meant everything was on purpose.

Something was behind those curtains. Something for her.

As much as Lyra was pushing her to run, to get out, she turned her feet back to that corner, moving the swaths of cloth aside.

The wall had been protected, same as the curtains in the corner, and for a brief moment Loor could imagine this room in its former glory. Still, there was something pinned to that wall that prevented her from reveling in such an image for long.

Fury's clothes and been pinned to the wall with various types of knives, as if a person had been pinned there and then suddenly vanished out of their garments. Again, the Baron's symbol had been painted on the outfit with ashes, marking Fury as a victim of his regime.

_**He'll come for you too. Get out. Get out now! **_

Loor felt cold at the back of her head, and knew it had nothing to do with all the feelings bouncing about her body.

_Too late. _

"Do you like the little present we left for you?"

Errol's cocky voice. That arrogance.

And his gun. She remembered that from her last encounter with him.

"That woman must have thought she was so clever... and granted, I was fooled for a while... but I knew you face-to-face. When a guard said he'd seen a girl to your description leaving this place, so quickly after our little brush, how could I not have figured it out?"

Lauren had nothing to say. She feared answering him in any way would set off his psychotic personality and make him pull the trigger before she figured out a plan to get away.

"So we raid the place, kill the woman, and what do we find laying out, waiting to be put away? The outfit your friend was wearing... did she die quickly? It really is a shame... you two, and that _freak. _You turned into _exactly_ what we wanted, but your bodies needed the right trigger. Anger, fear... Tell me, how badly do I have to frighten you to see it?" He chuckled. "Do I have to try and kill you?"

"Weren't you already going to do that? Blow my brains out on my sister's clothes?" She finally managed to speak.

"_Sister?" _Errol laughed. "My condolences, but no, I hadn't planned to join you two in death... yet. No, I think we'll take a nice little walk across the street... and I'll see just what it takes to bring the monster out of you. It'll be fun, like a game... a poke here, a prod there... we have so many _toys_ back in the fortress that I've gotten so very good at using. Also... you have something _I _want."

Lauren was trying not to shake too terribly. Errol was going to try and torture Lyra out of her, and _then_ he was going to kill her. Still, she had something of an idea forming. Her gun was near her hand... she'd shot him once before...

She had to keep him talking, distract him somehow, and buy the few seconds she needed to get the hell out of there. She just had to escape.

"And what would that be?" She asked, licking her lips nervously while trying to figure out just how many seconds would be vital to her successfully getting onto the street.

"Once we've captured one, we can kill the other... no need to leave one of you freaks running around the city. I assume your comm. unit will lead us right to all of your friends."

She'd decided. Now was the time to move. It was all one motion, ducking down and drawing her pistol out, turning and firing three shots into the dark before turning and running. She had no idea if she'd hit him, or even startled him. All she knew is that she'd broken away without getting her brains blown onto the wall, and she was sprinting for the portal of white that was the door. Lyra let go of her eyes, the light actually painful for the beast.

Errol had returned fire, but both shots he fired went wide of her.

She was to the door. Yes! She was going to get away.

Dashing out into the street, she stopped dead.

The street was empty, but for ten guards in red, arranged in a semi-circle around the door she'd just hopped out of.

"Don't think I'd fall for the same trick twice..." Errol was behind her, coming out of the doorway. "That's how you got away last time... so I bought a few friends to help me with my mousetrap."

She was out of her mind; she aimed her pistol at the nearest guard. She could see him, the helm covering his face, nothing but a tight frown showing at the bottom of his visor. She tried to blot it out. Ignore the fact that it was a human life on the other end of her gun.

The guard didn't flinch. He didn't move. He just stared at her as she hyperventilated, trying to bring herself to shoot him.

"They're not going to move. They're loyal to the Baron and myself... if you want them to get out of the way, you're going to have to kill them."

She whipped around, backing into the circle while aiming at Errol once more. She felt as if her finger had come loose. That was a life she was willing to take, on rage and fear she was willing to pull the trigger while looking at his face. She saw that one of her wild shots had hit him, skirting the same arm she'd planted a bullet in before. He didn't bother to cover the shallow wound; his racing suit had gotten the worst of it.

"Of course... if you shoot any of us, the rest of us will just detain you." Errol was smirking at her pistol, as if it were cute that she was aiming at him. "Ten against one are rather poor odds, don't you think?"

Her hand shook. She understood just how terrible those odds were. Still, she forced herself to realize the truth of the situation; this wasn't about her. Sure, Errol aimed to capture and kill her, but that wasn't the point.

He was after her comm. unit. If he got it, it wouldn't just lead him to Jak; Vin would also be found out for being a mole, and the location of the underground would be revealed to the Baron's right hand man. That was something the underground on a whole couldn't afford.

And if Errol killed Jak, it was all over.

Her next action was dictated by such thoughts. It didn't matter if she was captured, or even killed. This world's history had to play out as she knew it; and that meant keeping the Baron away from the underground.

She reached into her hip pouch, drew out her comm. unit, and watched as Errol's face morphed into surprise. Did he think she was surrendering?

She looked around herself. She was in the exact middle of the circle. There was nowhere for her to run.

"You want it, Errol?" She finally managed between erratic gasps for air. "Try using it like this."

She then crushed the little device in her hand. It was small, easy to snap in half, dropping it to the ground and grinding it under her boot. She then turned her free hand to draw out her juice rod, prepared to at least try and fight this horde of red.

To her confusion, Errol began laughing again. It was like his insanity had been turned up another notch, and when he finally looked at her he wore a grin that made him all the more frightening.

"You silly little girl, you're going to bring that other freak right to us!"

She got a shock as she realized what she'd done. She'd forgotten, but Vin had told her when he gave her that unit.

It was a KG war model; if it was damaged, it would send a distress signal to everyone on her contacts list. Jak would come running on his own, and if he didn't both Torn and Vin would send him her way.

It was one thing to bring Errol down on the whole underground, but Errol played his part in this story as well. He needed to survive to play that part, but he wouldn't be living very long if Jak got a hold of him now, in this hostile situation.

If either of them died, this world was lost.

* * *

**The Author's Corner**

DUNDUNDUN! I told you people I'm mean. Did you believe me? DID YOU? Um... maybe you did, maybe you didn't, but no one is reviewing so shit. People certainly seem to be reading, according to my hit-counter.

You vets must be pissed, since I managed to end this chapter on the same cliffy as I did last time. NOW if I can just get the following scene to work without any murder, we'll be good. I wish I could have killed Errol at this stage of the story... it would have been so satisfying... but sadly the guy's gotta live, for reasons beyond even the main character's knowledge!

Why, because the character Loor hasn't played Jak III yet. She don't know. Hah.

See you next time punks.

-Loor


	27. Trust

**CLEANED UP**

**Clean-up notes for this chapter: **Some dialog and events, nothing too huge. Meow.

**Disclaimer: I don't own Jak and Daxter. **

**Vacation or War  
****Chapter Twenty Seven- Trust**

"You going to come quietly, freak? Or would you rather wait with us for your friend and his pet rat to arrive?"

Loor put her gun back into her holster, both hands going tense on her juice rod. The stave-like item would be much better in a fight where she didn't aim to kill. She didn't verbally answer Errol, just staring at him.

"Oh-ho, you want to fight about it?" He raised his pistol again. "Bringing a juice rod to a gun fight isn't exactly an intelligent idea."

"You already said you don't want to kill me... yet." She snarled this while taking a careful step to the right. Errol mirrored her, the two of them settling into the ring of guards like a fighting ring. "If you decide to shoot me it would take one wrong move on my part for a bullet that was meant for an arm to go into my chest."

"Sir-" One of the guard made an attempt to speak. She was totally outnumbered; they could take her away easily, but Errol wouldn't have it.

"She's mine!" The psychotic commander snapped. "She wants to play?" He holstered the weapon. "Fine... we'll play. Something to pass the time while the other freak comes to her rescue."

He'd just given her the advantage; she was armed, he wasn't. Of course she didn't think that helped her odds all that much. Even if she somehow managed to beat him down without killing him, there was this little wrinkle of the other ten guards, and the fact that she couldn't bring herself to take a human life. Even faceless, they were men.

She tried to ignore those little facts, yelling while running at him. She had to be close to get at him with the less than lethal parts of her weapon, but he was ready for her. Instead of trying to block or back off, he grabbed the shaft of her stave just outside her hands, yanking her around. "You can't kill." He teased. "What are you even doing in this war, you _child_?"

Lyra wanted to kill him. She had a clear intention to rip him apart, destroy him while they had the chance. Loor couldn't block such thoughts, growling and yanking back on her weapon, trying to get free of him. She didn't answer him, feeling as if she were taking leave of what was human in her. Errol was a cruel thing, little more than a beast himself. The animal in her wanted to fight him, rend him, rip his throat out with her teeth alone.

The animal in her had no use for her weapon.

With a snarl she let go, jumping out of the way as he took control and swiped at her. She remained hunched over, sparks racing over her skin. There wasn't enough eco for a full transformation, but Lyra didn't care. She was going to push for whatever she could have, and as long as the two had the same goal in mind they could work together.

The goal was survival.

Her eyes turned from green and purple to pure violet, short claws extending from her nails.

This was not a transformation; that was a outward explosion of energy that heralded Lyra's coming to the living world. This was something on the inside, and it caused both girl and beast pain. The reason for this was that they were no longer separate; this was the two coming together, clashing, enduring agony and joining consciousness.

Pain caused insanity. Worry and anxiety were discarded, two simple facts of the situation coming up.

Errol posed a threat to them.

Threats would not be allowed to live.

The movements were fast, near deft, as they came at him. He deflected them at first, the stolen weapon serving him well enough. It annoyed them; how he knocked their claws away. He was being difficult. Forgetting his body, they went after the weapon, taking hold and ripping it away, throwing it somewhere unknown. It was only their wild abandon that allowed such feats of strength, only the insanity that gave them the gift of power.

He was soft, their claws were sharp. They took his shoulders, drug him down, screaming as the pain drove deeper. This fusion... it was most unnatural, but they had him pinned. They were atop him, ready to tear at him.

Hot pain was cut with cold realization; they were ready to kill him.

And he expressed no fear. Anger, yes, he reeked of it. It was a smell that left a salty taste on the back of the tongue, but there was no fear to go with it. He resented his position under her, claws threatening his neck being the only reason he wasn't kicking in every direction to get back up.

"Well?" He asked. "Do you have it in you or don't you?"

Did they?

One did... the other didn't.

The two came apart as the eco ebbed; used up and forcing Lyra back into stasis. Lauren's body returned to normal, staring down at Errol, realizing she had him pinned. Her mind came back, snapping to the thought of what she'd been about to do.

Why hadn't the guards come to Errol's rescue, restrained her?

She looked up to find the guards were fallen. That was not her doing; her memory had not even blurred. She knew exactly what she'd done, but she'd been so focused on Errol that she hadn't realized that a third player had joined the party.

Jak stood at the edge of what had been a circle of KG, the blaster drawn. The gun had likely been the end of the guards, and was now trained on Errol as long as the psychotic red head was detained. Both of the boys were present and staring at her, surprised that she'd stopped at the most crucial moment.

"Do it." Jak encouraged her. "He deserves it."

Jak's face was twisted with his want for revenge. Errol was one of the pair that he wanted dead for what had happened to him, and here he was on a silver platter. But Loor's inability to take a human life reconnected her to her fear, and opened her up to another feeling.

The air had gone tense. The hair on the back of her neck was on end as time seemed to slow down on her next decision.

"I..." She looked down. Errol must have realized he was now the one outnumbered, with a laser site trained on his forehead. The guy didn't dare move, but he was seething at her. Whichever way this was going, he wanted it to be over with. She then looked up.

"I can't."

"I can." Jak jerked his head. "Move."

The air got even harder to breathe, the world struggling against the possibility of Errol's early death. Lauren was suddenly on her feet, doing the one thing she'd never thought she'd do since breaking out of the fortress.

She stood between Errol and Jak, defending the villain. "No!" With one word her chest loosened, but not enough. One word wouldn't be enough to convince Jak.

"Wha...?" The blond hero stared at her a moment before shouldering the blaster one more... aiming at her. "You're with them!"

She shook her head violently, most of her body following as if she were trying to shrug off chains. "No, I'm not! Calm down and _feel_ it! It's not his time yet! He's going to die, but not yet!"

Daxter's fur suddenly fluffed up like an aggravated cat; he'd tapped into the feeling as well. Soon the awareness passed on to Jak, who looked as if he wanted to retch, though he was still horribly enraged at having Errol in his sites but being unable to take him out.

Lauren turned around, sure that Errol would have made a move by now. He wasn't one to stay down, particularly not when given a chance. Still, turning showed her something she didn't quite expect; the psychotic racer had vanished.

He must have realized his bad odds and taken the chance to run.

"Great..." Jak huffed as the tension faded. Errol had gotten away with his life. "Fucking coward."

Loor watched as Jak holstered his weapon, turning from the scene to walk. At first she feared following him, what with the fact that he'd been ready to shoot _her_ over what had happened a few seconds ago. She kinda wanted to run in the other direction, but stayed rooted to the spot for fear that she'd trot right into the arms of the KG; Errol couldn't have gone far, and he was sure to get some reinforcements.

Jak stopped, turning to look back. "You coming?" He grunted, clearly not happy with her.

"I..." She bit her lip, slowly walking to follow. If she had a tail to hang between her legs, it would have been there. She had no way to explain her behavior but the fact that she _couldn't_ explain. She wanted to get away again, hide away back at the underground and figure out something she could say that would clear up everything. Something better than the immediate theory that she was a KG spy or something. "Maybe I should... go back... or-"

"Are you nuts?" His voice was harsh. "I'm not letting you go off on your own anymore."

It was clear that worry over her well-being was not the reason for this. He was suspicious of her; he didn't trust her anymore. Maybe he never trusted her to being with, and this was just the last straw.

"But..." She wrung her hands. "You felt it, didn't you? It... it wasn't right..."

He dismissed her defense with a snort, marching on. "C'mon. We were on our way to Krew when your comm. flagged us down."

She had to jog to keep up with his angry steps, though she kept a few feet between them. She felt as if he was going explode and take her head off for ruining a perfect chance, but she'd seen his face. He _had_ felt it, whatever that tension was. He knew, just as sure as she did, that something had nearly gone terribly wrong.

He just wished it wasn't so; he wanted to exact his revenge as soon as possible, not wait for whenever the world willed it.

It wasn't long before he found a zoomer for the trip into south town. She at once broke off to go find her own, but she didn't get far before she heard Jak talking to Daxter. The ottsel gave his friend a look like he was going way overboard, but hopped down and scuttled over to get onto her shoulder.

"Jeez... didn't know he had that much of a paranoia capacity..." Loor muttered while walking away with her own personal baby-sitter, searching for her own vehicle.

"It's not paranoia, he's upset." Daxter sighed, seeming quite strung-out himself. "Jeez babe, you know how to make a guy worry, you know that? First the alarm comes through, and we were off the rescue! Instead..." The ottsel shook his head. "What were you thinkin', toots?"

"It's not like I ran into Errol on purpose..." She grumbled. "But I'm in the same boat as him... I want Errol and the Baron dead too, maybe not as badly as he does, but it is on my to-do list. You guys know that..."

"Yeah, but it's pretty easy to throw Jakkie-boy off these days. He's out of his mind half of the time, hardly keepin' a lid on it. Shock him bad enough, he's just ready to lay into anythin', even me!"

"Awe, with that adorable mug?" Lauren managed to relax a little bit with Dax's antics. It also gave her hope that Jak would get over his current issues with her. Still, she understood what Dax was talking about; losing control. It was what happened to her with Errol; she'd just straight lost it. She hadn't been herself, not truly.

No, she'd been somewhere between herself and Lyra. The two had acted together... felt together. She remembered the wrenching pain, but also the intoxicating feel of power. By giving in to her rage, she'd been granted something greater.

But she couldn't trust Lyra with such things.

"Heh, yeah." Daxter snickered as she found a zoomer, saddling up and turning it around to get back to Jak. "It'll be okay, toots. Just give him some time and space to cool down and talk to him later; he's plenty reasonable when he's thinkin' straight."

She nodded while remembering the night before. He'd been more than reasonable; willing to take her word when she said that revealing what she knew would spell disaster. There was a kindly and understanding side of him that could see that despite her secrets she wasn't a shadowy character, just another person trying to survive.

She'd enjoyed that evening; particularly the feeling of being held. It had been a long time since she'd felt so happy in someone else's arms.

Looking up, she was getting back to Jak. He was still brooding, so she didn't get too close. "Onward?" She asked tentatively, Daxter making the leap between zoomers to return to his partner.

He didn't even answer, just turning his zoomer and jetting off, leaving her to take off after him and do her best to keep up. She actually managed fairly well, getting better at traffic and proper passing room. She wasn't worried about the tail of her zoomer all the time, or tempted to get up from her hunched over position and look back. Instead she stayed down and locked on Jak's tail.

Of course, he wasn't trying to lose her. He was just trying to burn off some raw emotion, and she was eventually able to catch up and pull even with him.

But she didn't stop there. With only pause enough to make eye-contact, she laid even flatter on her zoomer and gave it all she had; the idea being to instigate a race. The answering roar from Jak's zoomer told her the challenge had been accepted, and she hoped with her slight head start she had a chance.

Yeah right.

With Daxter clinging, the blond hero whipped by, entering the port section first and losing her in seconds.

She dared to think she'd seen a smile on his face, even for a moment.

* * *

**The Author's Corner**

This one turned out a tad short, but I still liked it. I also wrote it a tad sleepy, so keep an eye out for dumb mistakes.

Nighty night.

-Loor


	28. Making Peace

**CLEANED UP**

**Clean up notes for this chapter: **Small event change, major dialog change... though that's kinda been the whole re-write, hasn't it? Yeah, pretty much all of the dialog has followed along the basic themes of the old one, but there's more cute comments from Dax, Jak's emo center is now chewy, and Loor is no longer a 2-dimensional bad-ass action chick. LUV.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Jak and Daxter... though I rather wish I did. C'mon, I think Loor would have rocked as a playable character in Jak II. Though she would have been sure to push the rating up to M with her dirty mouth... plus switching between melee and ranged combat, or mixing the two, would have been an interesting interface to say the least... -muses- ACK! ONWARD! **

**Vacation Or War  
****Chapter Twenty Eight- Making Peace**

Lauren had to dodge around a KG as she and Jak entered the Hip-Hog Saloon, feeling the urge to hide her face but resisting; doing so would probably make her all the more conspicuous. Ahead was Krew, looking just as upset with the guard, staring after him until he was out the door. He then went straight to Jak, starting something of a pity party. "The Baron sent his goons to harass me as usual, 'ey! Health violations, bank taxes! Everyone wants a piece of me... ah well..."

Daxter couldn't help a cute comment. "Lucky for you, there's plenty to go around!"

Krew ignored the little fur ball, keeping his eyes on Jak. "Destroying that cargo in the port was more important than you know, ey? I've got a new project going, and I don't need anyone snooping around my shipments."

Loor glanced to Jak. He must have taken care of that while she'd been out of it, or otherwise occupied.

"Let's just say..." Krew went on. "That if everything goes as planned, I'm going to corner the market in metal head trophies." The big boss laughed, his rolls of chub bouncing with him. "Anyway, I have another job for you. An associate of mine, Brutter, works with me in the forced labor trade."

"You mean the slave trade?" Jak asked while crossing his arms, his voice hostile.

"I prefer 'freedom challenged.' Lurkers are the city's low class labor; Brutter pays me handsomely to help him free lurkers and get them safely out of the city." Krew's chair floated a bit higher as he slowly rocked back and forth, his rolls of fat making the sound of water sloshing. "Ah... it lifts my spirit to help those in need... and I _need_ his money!"

"Lurkers?" Daxter was more upset about the mission than Krew's reasons for being involved. "We don't like lurkers!"

"But you do like gun upgrades, ey?"

The fatty tossed a little black item he'd had in the same hand as his fan, Jak catching it and examining it before nodding for the super-sized mobster to go on.

"There are three Krimzon Guard transports carrying lurkers to a 'project' the Baron has outside the city. Take out the transports, and bring the three lurkers to Brutter's trinket stand in the Bazaar."

Jak led the way back out without question, yanking out his morph gun to implement his new upgrade. Loor went around him to get back onto her zoomer and waiting for instruction.

"Hey, Loor..." Daxter looked up as Jak messed with his gun. "Why do you get so quiet when we get new missions? Aside from dealing with Torn, you almost never talk when people are giving us new things to do."

"You boys seem to do business just fine without me putting in my two cents." She answered without missing a beat. "Anyway, the last time I saw Krew, the guy tried to give me a job. No thanks."

Jak flipped the morph gun over to the vulcan barrel before twisting it and putting it away, satisfied with the new upgrade... whatever it had been. Then, instead of going for his zoomer, walked over to Lauren's. "You get to do wheel work again on this one." He said. "You drive, I'll take down the transports, three lurkers go home free... where ever the hell they call home."

"Yeah... last I remember, lurkers liked caves, but the closest thing we've seen to that is the dig site Kor sent us to." Daxter shrugged. "Suppose they might have digging tools or something now..."

"Or learned to live in houses..." Jak mused while getting on behind Lauren. She scooted forward at once, providing plenty of room for him to get situated before settling back into whatever few inches he didn't take up so she wasn't sitting _on_ the handlebars. It was odd to be sitting with him so soon after he'd been upset with her, but she tried not to think about it.

No, she needed to concentrate on driving, not on the sexy elf-man that had his hips up against her rump. It would only be awkward if she _made _it awkward.

Thinking of the map that was pretty much burned into her memory, she turned the zoomer and began to drive towards the Bazaar section via the palace section. Jak shifted behind her, getting his gun back out and leaning on her a little bit to steady his aim. She'd switched into the upper zone before putting on a little speed, better at weaving through traffic than she was at weaving through pedestrians. She lifted her head when they entered the palace section to look up at the huge statue of Baron Praxis.

She had a brief thought that it was rather ironic that the Baron had built a statue of himself right on top of Mar's tomb, and that he likely would have found it if he'd dug the foundation for that statue down into the ground instead of building the pedestal up for it. She wondered if the guy felt at all stupid for that after the tomb was discovered.

Jak's weight shifted slightly to the right, making her turn the zoomer that way before entering the traffic that went around the statue. Now looking into the sea of vehicles, she saw their first target. A large KG vehicle where the front was like a cruiser, but the back rose up and out for a large cage. In the back of said cage was a lurker, grabbing at the bars and rattling them.

Lurkers were creatures that Lauren was yet to see, and had to look at for more than a moment. Somewhat human shaped, but the arms were longer, the hands were huge, and so were the feet. The head shape was different, almost frog-like, with no applicable ears. Covered with shaggy purple fur, the lurker did indeed look like an animal. But the thing that betrayed, as with most creatures, were the eyes. Wide and fearful eyes that understood that this cage was taking it to a place it did _not_ want to be. Though bright yellow instead of white around the iris, there was most certainly a spark of intelligence.

This struck her differently than in the game. In the game she'd been happy to free lurkers just because they were big fuzzy creatures that the KG were taking places, and it gave her an excuse to shoot cruisers. Now she was physically staring at one...

And it made her mad, and rather disgusted, with the people who would use even somewhat intelligent life for menial work.

"Get along side them." Jak said. "I'll take out the driver and hope a crash landing doesn't hurt the lurker."

She did so, weaving to the outside of traffic and speeding up. She watched the carrier, since she wanted to get up far enough that Jak could shoot the driver, but not far enough that the driver would notice them. She knew she'd crossed some invisible line when Jak raised up a bit more to aim, still using her to steady his arm. He had the blaster for a precision shot, looking to snipe the driver. "Little more..." He muttered, giving her the signal to pull just that much more forward.

Then three shots in quick succession.

The question of whether they were good was answered when the transport began a swift decent to the ground. Loor expected it to explode, but instead it just hit nose first, rolled, and eventually settled upside-down, sliding on the road a little bit and frightening several civilians.

Oh yeah, and triggering the alarm.

She flew in, dropping zones and getting close to the wreckage to see the lurker's cage had been effectively busted open in the roll over, and the burly beast was dragging itself out. It looked no worse for wear, sighting them and staring. Did it know they were here to help it?

"C'mon!" Daxter yelled at the lurker as Jak holstered his gun for the moment. "We're here to take you to Brutter!"

Brutter's name is what got it in gear, loping over to the zoomer that Loor felt was dangerously over weight-limit by now, the lurker clambering onto the back and using Jak's shoulders as a hand-hold. Jak, as not to fall off, grabbed Lauren around the stomach, who held onto the handlebars to keep herself from sliding back as well. Looking back she saw the lurker's feet were rather monkey-like, wrapping around the tail of the zoomer.

Shots were ringing out now; the KG had sent reinforcements, and the boys in red were not happy. Not needing much more encouragement, Loor hit the throttle and got the hell out of there, getting to the Bazaar and entering the section that did allow vehicles, blasting through narrow streets that made her nervous to drive so quickly through... but she was too high on adrenaline to slow down. She had already had one brush with the KG today; she didn't need another one.

Brutter's trinket stand was something she didn't look directly at; she just noticed when the lurker unhanded Jak and leapt off. It took a tumble, but was otherwise okay, running over to the little stand.

One down, two to go. The next two were quite similar to the first one, besides the fact that they had to track down the transports with the city on alert, which meant holding still for too long heralded more gun-shots. Each time they wrecked the transport, picked the lurker up from the twisted carrier, and dropped it off at Brutter's.

When they had the last one, Loor pulled up to a stop instead of just turning and jetting off again. The lurker got off, and decided to take Jak with it for a little gratitude. The creature gave him a hug that lifted his feet up off of the ground, Daxter leaping off to avoid similar treatment.

Jak looked back to Lauren as she started giggling at him, a glare forming until she got up off of the zoomer to ease the lurker's furry arms off of him. Sadly, her reward was also a monster hug. She learned why Jak was so unhappy to be grabbed; she felt as if this thing was breaking her ribs it was holding her so tight.

She heard a whine from Daxter; his tail had been caught in the crush.

It was Jak's turn to chuckle and try to free her from the lurker. Eventually the creature dropped her, and she was left to rub her ribs as Dax went back to Jak's shoulder, the trio going over to the trinket stand as the third and final lurker ran to join its brethren, hiding behind the stall until Brutter could smuggle them out of the city.

The stall was a simple enough structure; a wooden bar, a keg off to the side, and some strung up fish under a giant neon sign advertising just that; fish. Apparently Brutter did something with food as well as trinkets. And of course, behind the bar was Brutter himself, a lurker of particular height, standing straighter than his brothers and wearing clothes aside from a loin cloth. He wore a button-down shirt that had somehow been made to fit over his bulky arms, along with what looked like a few fox furs draped across his neck. Along with that were the fact that he had small spectacles balanced over his nose, giving Lauren the feeling that Brutter might have been an older member of his race, despite how hyper he seemed all the time.

And man, was he happy to see them. His wide mouth had drawn into a grin as Daxter jumped onto the Bar, eying the keg but getting intercepted. "Little orangey warrior!" Brutter spoke quickly, as if he'd just had a great deal of sugar, or coffee. He reached down and pinched Daxter's cheek. "You have do great thing for Brutter and lurker people!" He then brought his other massive hand to the bar, clasping Dax's whole body and bringing his head down to kiss the ottsel repeatedly.

"Eeeck!" Daxter protested once the lurker stopped, spitting. He'd managed to get an arm out of Brutter's hold to try and groom his fur and ears back. "No toucha the 'do'"

"Oh, sorry..." The lurker then lifted a meaty paw to pat Daxter's head a few times, once again screwing up his fur, and then jerking around to turn to Jak, knocking the ottsel flat to the bar. "You great guys! Brutter not forget. Brutter pay you back! You see!"

Loor giggled, going over to Daxter to get him off the bar before Brutter did any more damage. When she approached the bar, Brutter turned his attention to her, getting in close and sniffing. Despite talking and seeming intelligent, this was a very bestial thing to do, and it made her want to take a step back and cower. Dax was taking his time to get up onto her arm and clamber up to her shoulder though, so she could only pull her head back. "Um... yeah?"

"Lady warrior smells funny!" Brutter proclaimed. "Like strange places."

"I'm... uh, not from around here." She offered as an explanation. The lurker was able to scent her? Oy. Either way, Dax had made it to her shoulder, so she was able to back off towards Jak. It seemed everyone she ran into could tell she didn't belong, and it was making her nervous.

Brutter followed her a little as she moved, leaning over the counter to keep sniffing. He was clearly intrigued. "Trees. Strange trees! Brutter never smell those trees!"

She was tempted to sniff herself, but didn't. She was always climbing the pine trees at home; perhaps an old scent was somehow still clinging to her? That or her love of nature had just ended up ingrained into her scent. "I'm from really far away." She said lamely. "Everything's different."

"Brutter see the world with lurker balloons! _Never_ smell those trees! Where lady warrior come from?"

"Ah... there as an accident with a teleporter." She finally got back to her original guns; the same lie she was feeding everyone. "An experiment that went wrong... so I don't really know where my home is from Haven. I'm currently trying to figure that out."

"Hey, Loor, we had kinda an accident too..." Daxter said while leaping to Jak's shoulder. "Maybe what happened to you is like what happened to us! You weren't using any strange artifacts were you? That precursor junk messes up everything!"

"Vin and I were actually worried that something I created might have remotely triggered some precursor technology remotely... Either way, it doesn't matter. My problem, not yours." She shrugged, giving them a smile that she forced onto her face to end the conversation, waving to Brutter and turning to start walking.

The boys stalled a moment, but then followed. Jak was still doing his level best not to let her go off by herself.

She noticed as he trotted up even with her, not bothering to hold the smile. The reminder about home reminded her of all the things swirling about her strangeness to this world. Her effects on events had already shown themselves; Teek's death was something what would have not happened if she and Fury had never come here. It was the fact that Errol knew her face in particular, and was able to pin the safe house from a guard's description.

In that, she'd technically killed someone. Her presence, simply trying to get away and stay alive, had triggered a death. What more would change as she got more and more involved with the underground and its doings? More involved with Jak?

She decided right there it had to stop.

She had to survive, and she couldn't think of a way to properly remove herself from the underground, but she had enough faith in her skills now that she could start asking for missions on her own. She had to separate from Jak; even being his partner was out of the question. He'd had his ass in the fire a few times now, covering hers. As things got more intense, she felt it was only a matter of time before something fatal happened.

"Hey, toots, you okay?" Daxter asked, breaking her out of her thoughts.

She looked up with the realization that the most forlorn look was on her face, making Dax concerned about her. "Um... yeah. Just thinkin..."

"What about?" Jak asked, taking the lead; it looked like he was heading back to Krew.

_That I shouldn't be hanging so close to you... _

"Might start taking my own missions. I think I'm getting the hang of this shit..."

Daxter pouted. "Awe... I knew she was tryin' to run away from us! I told ya toots, if you don't wanna hang out with us, just say somethin'!"

"I'm not trying to run off!" She snapped, not in the mood for Dax's teasing. "You guys are great, but I gotta look out for myself, y'know?"

"What happens if you run into Errol again?"

Lauren glanced to Jak, and then looked down. She didn't have an answer to that.

"If we hadn't shown up... would you have let him kill you... just because of that feeling?"

"He wasn't trying to kill me just then, but..." She sighed. "Yes. I would have had to."

"_Had_ to?" Dax shook his head. "You two are givin' me the heebie-jeebies. I mean, heck I felt it too, but do we really need to dwell on it? Kiss and make up already!"

Both teens glanced at the ottsel, Loor following that glance by looking away and blushing.

* * *

**The Author's Corner**

Another day, another chapter done! And... I'm quite happy with how it turned out. Yis, yis I am.

A little extra funny at the end... Keh. Loor is a total fangirl, just like MEEE!

UM UM UM UM UM UM... MEOW.

-Loor


	29. Support

**CLEANED UP**

**Clean up notes for this chapter: **These events are new, but the content is stuff the vets know. Loor and Lyra's commonality, Loor's yucky childhood history equaling trust issues... yeah. Good stuff.

**Disclaimer: I don't own Jak and Daxter. **

**Vacation Or War  
****Chapter Twenty Nine- Support**

Lauren had excused herself from whatever the next assignment from Krew was, though Jak had insisted on personally returning her to the underground before taking off again to do his stuff. Night having fallen, Torn was catching Z's while he was able. Finally getting a moment to think about, she realized she was pretty exhausted too. She didn't wanna totally conk out, since she figured a moment alone would be a great time to slink off and talk to Vin again to see if he'd found anything new, but once she laid down her body decided it was staying down.

And again, she found herself in a dream. She'd fallen into that room again, upon fluffy pillows and silken blankets, relaxed as could be. She had a passing thought that this was like some sort of perfect place, but the purple walls that broke up the various shades of green disturbed her. In her warm and lax body, she felt an itch.

So subtle, but there. Weak, but persistent.

_**You just want to run away? You're so worried that you're ready to cut and run? **_

Lyra, hissing in her ear. The animal was creeping about her, somewhere behind her head. She was too lazy to move and look, just staring up. _It's safer for him... _

_**And what about you? **_

_I don't matter. I personally want to survive... but if it's between the future of this place and my life... I'd gladly die. A world is worth more than one lost girl. _

_**Pathetic! **_

She was suddenly shoved off of her pillows, onto the carpeted floor, rolling and seeing Lyra. The animal was on all fours, stalking her host with angry dark eyes. She was dressed in a robe of dark violet, trimmed in forest green, hardly long enough to cover the creature's rump. Also, Lyra favored having her tail risen up into the air, taking the hem of the tunic with it and discarding all decency.

_**Fight for yourself! The world is a big place, it won't fall in a day! One event doesn't bring about the end of eternity! **_

_What would you know? _Lyra's aggression was aggravating her, making her get up and glare down at the animal. _This is a tipping point; a precarious place in history that means the end of the last major human city in this world if they don't survive. This city, it's people, and its hero are far more important than I am! _

_**You worry about you! The male can take care of himself, as he's proven a few times over. If you try to cut and run, you're going to get yourself killed. Without eco, I can't save you!**_

The room around them seemed to dim as Lauren's ultimate anger took over her mind. She whipped her arms, mentally screaming. _I don't need to be saved! I can take care of myself, always have, always will! No one gives two fucking shits about me, and that's the way I like it! Nothing changes, no one disappoints me, and no one can betray me. I don't have to trust anyone to take care of me, I can just do it myself. I would think you of all people would get that!_

Lyra's ears flattened back to the great ebony tumble of hair that she had, a feral growl sounding from the animal's chest. _**I understand fending for oneself, but survival is something that comes at all costs. There is no pride... there is no fear. To live is all that matters, the means of that being irrelevant. And let's not forget... **_

The growl became a strange purr.

_**You'd happily trust that boy with your life... and more. So many flights of fancy in this brain of yours... a library of dark little secrets and urges. I figured you hadn't made a move on the male because I hadn't given you enough ideas, but I see now it's simply your fear that's holding you back. You're anxious about many things; whether or not you can give yourself over without rejection. **_

_You stay out of there! _She brought her hands up to her head, as if she could lock such thoughts away. She'd made the mistake of reading a lot of things she ought not have when she was an early twelve, spawning all the fantasies only a girl could have come up with. It had trained her sex drive early, her mind often in the gutter when she had not much else to think about. Of course, having just turned thirteen, she knew better than to get her physical body involved in such things. She had planned to wait until sixteen before learning about the real world of sex...

And now Lyra was dragging out her old thoughts... while she had the hormones of a sixteen-year-old coursing through her body. She didn't want them; she had to keep her mind on the mission; Stay alive, get home. That was all that mattered.

But Jak was almost too sexy to stand in person; something she subconsciously noted often when she wasn't arguing with Dax.

Would it be so terrible to try and touch him?

She screamed, driving out Lyra's influence. _Get out! No one else has to know about that! _

_**Would it be so bad to even try? Come now, he at least considers you a friend by how he acts... **_Lyra was suddenly much closer, standing up and spooking Lauren as she looked to find the beast in her face. It caused her to back off, though it was only three steps until her back hit the wall, and Lyra followed her for every one. **_You could just scoot a little closer... feign having a nightmare to get him to sleep next to you... go on one of your little walks and drag him into a back alley for a secret kiss... wouldn't that be fun? _**

_Fun isn't the point! _The girl pressed against the wall, realizing now that she was shorter than Lyra in this mental world of hers. Lyra possessed her more mature body, taller and her body curved into a most womanly shape. It was only then that she became totally aware of the fact that she was her old self here; her old _human_ self. She was still thirteen in this mental landscape, blond locks adorning her head, short ears and all.

It made her feel rather small as Lyra cornered her against the wall, the animal taking her wrists and holding her there, bending to hiss into the girl's face. _**Do I care about the point? No. I care about what I want. What we need... that's your department. All I know is want; the want to kill... the want to ravish... and to me these wants are like your need to breathe; it's so important I'm more than willing to fight for it. If you're so worried about dying, why waste those secret seconds? **_

_I'm not wasting anything. Stay alive... get out of here... get out before something goes terribly wrong... that's all I care about. _She was trying to think of an escape; the animal was way too close to her for comfort, and Lyra radiated sexual desire at the moment. What disturbed her is she responded to it; her mind bending to match despite her protests. _Stop it! You're screwing with my head again! _

_**You blame so much on my... 'influence' as it were. But remember, I was well on my way to existence before the eco brought me to life. In truth, you and I were to be one in the same, a fractured personality in an unstable mind. Logic and reasoning, at war with all things emotional. Honestly, I'm quite glad the eco separated us... but the truth remains; what I want is simply a more forceful precipitation of what you already were wishing for. **_

_Shut up! Lemme go! _She screamed, like a child frightened by the monster hiding under the bed. _I wasn't going insane, I did everything to prevent it! I wasn't going to allow you to exist! _

_**Let you go? **_The animal turned, tossing the girl easily across the room, claws scraping her wrists. **_If you want to get away from me, you'll have to wake up._**

Lauren was in a panic, as Lyra was on the approach again and looking like she was about to pounce. She didn't know what the animal was going to do, but feared it all the same. She had to wake up, but had no idea of how to leave her mind when it was so active. There had to be a way out of the room... a portal, a door, something!

The room was her creation to begin with, a safe haven in her mind.

If she could create, she could manipulate.

She got up, leaping away as Lyra pounced for the spot she'd been laying. It had been an inch's difference, but she kept on the run to the opposing wall. Looking at it, she imagined a black door-way. A way out. It would lead her back to her body, her bed in the underground.

It would take her outside. She told herself so. It had to be true.

Leaping for the hole in space, she went through and felt as if she were falling.

* * *

Loor's body jolted as she returned to the living world, gasping and sitting up as she felt as if she'd landed after a long fall. At once she looked over herself, finding herself in her sports bra and pants, tucked away in her bunk in the underground. It was dark and quiet, meaning it was still nighttime... but she didn't dare go back to sleep when she knew what was waiting for her, just inside her skull.

No, she had to get up. Fear and adrenaline still coursed through her, making it impossible to stay still. She paused only to get her boots on, getting up and making for the door.

"Hey."

A voice stopped her. Her head swung around, looking back to find she must have been asleep for longer than she'd meant to in the first place. Jak and Daxter had been back long enough for Jak to be in bed, but he was obviously still awake, peeking over the edge of his bunk and watching her.

"Uh... hi?" She blinked, feeling her cheeks warm as she remembered Lyra's little suggestions.

"Going outside?" He was sitting up, showing the fact that he'd gone down to his pants. He was shirtless. Even in the dark, she could see some of his rather pleasing physique.

"You don't need to come with." She said quickly. "I just... kinda had a nightmare... just gonna walk around the block to unwind and–"

He'd already slung himself down the ladder, grabbing his blanket in lieu of his shirt. "I wanted to talk to you anyway... but I didn't wanna wake you two nights in a row. Gotta sleep sometime, right?"

"Not after the dream I just had..." She practically whimpered, leading the way outside.

"Was it...?" He paused, and she nodded at him. "Jeez..."

"It was just like... an empty space for us to interact in." She stepped out onto the street, looking up at the stars for a moment before beginning to walk with him right beside her. "And... she..." She had to look down at her wrists; she remembered how real the scratches felt, but there was no physical evidence on her arms. Just the memory of the pain.

"They're pretty pushy..." Jak agreed, sighing. "Almost wish I had died..."

"Don't say that. As long as you're still walking, you can work on making shit better."

"Hey, my shit's great. It just sucks having _his_ thoughts on... everything."

She nodded, not having much of a comeback; she knew the feeling. Even if Lyra didn't talk, her emotional two-cents was in on everything. Thankfully the animal was currently limited to her dreams, only a small amount of eco in her system at the moment. Still, there was an elephant in the room, so to speak. She knew _exactly_ why Jak wanted to come out and talk, and decided to attack it before the silence led to other things.

"Um... thank you." She said as they turned out of the alleyway. "For earlier... listening to me. I'm... I was scared..."

"Why were you even fighting him in the first place? So close to the fortress... I'm sure they've got security cameras or something; they were sure to notice you." He was looking at her seriously, rather glad she'd broken in on the subject first, since he couldn't think of a pleasant way to open up on it.

"Honestly?" She chuckled. "I was sick of getting my ass pulled out of the fire by you... figured sooner or later it was gonna get one of us killed if I didn't buck up... so I figured I'd go back to the safe house that first outfitted me and pick up some extra hardware. Some big-boom-stick, like Sig's peace-maker or something."

"And?"

"Place had been raided... guard had seen me leaving when I first escaped, told Errol, and he burned it from the inside... left it like a trap for me, figuring I'd be back and be fazed enough by what he'd done with the place for him and back-up to be waiting for me."

"You said he didn't want to kill you just yet."

"He didn't..." She took a deep breath. It was a thought that scared her almost as much as Lyra did. "We... you and I, were exactly the results the dark warrior program was trying to produce. Errol basically wanted to capture me... and torture me until he understood how to properly trigger the monster. Honestly... I think he just wants me at his mercy after having shot him."

"When...?" Jak trailed off, and Loor was pretty sure she knew why. He wanted to know when Errol was going to die, but knew better than to ask; she'd already told him she couldn't say.

"Before this is all over. Don't worry... you'll know."

"Will I be there?"

She felt like a fortune-teller, and giggled. "Oh yeah. Should be, unless something goes horribly wrong..."

"That's what you're so worried about, isn't it?" He sighed. "Everything crashing down because you said too much... sorry for even asking..."

She felt the urge to slug him in the arm; his guilt was guilting her in a big guilt circle. "Don't worry about it. I just gotta get the hell out of here, and it'll all be okay."

"Dax is right, you _are_ trying to run away from us." He snickered as they turned to stay in the slums, having made it all the way to the border of south town. Instead of going around the block, they just did an about-face to go back the way they came.

"At least I have a good reason for running away..." She said, but even she didn't believe it. Why was she running? Fear? The life she left behind? She'd grown up; her family wouldn't even recognize her if she came walking back in. And then there was that little wrinkle of she'd be dead in a few months. Still, it was a compulsion; when away from home one wants to return as soon as possible. Home is safe, stable, _normal. _

_Lonely. _

She struck her own head as the thought crossed her brain.

"Uh... you okay there?"

"Brain taking a detour..." She grumbled.

"What exactly do you mean by that?" They made another corner, turning back towards the underground. "I remember you saying that when you hit your head against a wall."

"Some thought or another crossing my mind that I didn't wanna think about." She shrugged; it was something she was used to. "If I try not to think about something I tend to think about it more, so I just hit myself and it goes away. Kinda like shock therapy... with my fist."

"Why don't you just say it?"

"I have my reasons... Usually I'm happy to be open, but a lot of new things have been happening, and that has put a lot of new... and sometimes disturbing... thoughts into my head. Before you ask, it had nothing to do with you."

He shrugged. "Whatever. Listen; I don't think you're ready to take missions on your own just yet. And, even if you were..." He shrugged. "Dax is a great partner, but I like having you around too. We're all in the same boat, right?"

"Yeah..." She agreed slowly, trying to form her thoughts into words that would help persuade him. "You keep risking yourself to save my ass... and you're a lot more important than I am."

"As long as I gotta save your ass, you're not ready to take missions on your own. And once you don't need my help, you'll make the missions easier on all of us. Nothing wrong with over-kill. Anyways, I'm not _that_ big a deal. I'm sure Dax has told you some of the stories; horribly exaggerated."

"You don't get it..." She sighed, shaking her head. "That _feeling. _As long as I'm around it's going to keep coming."

"And you wanna deal with that all alone?"

"It's how I deal with everything else."

They'd returned to the dead-end alleyway that led them back to the underground, stopping. "You make your own choices..." He sighed. "But I like having you around... you get it. Me. Last night..." He paused. They both knew just how critical her support of him had been. "I just wanna return the favor."

He started walking for the door to go back inside. She was left to stand there, weighing her options.

She liked being around him too, but that was the problem. She liked it too much; and he'd made it clear that he was going to keep protecting her until she didn't need it anymore. He didn't seem to worried about it, but she certainly was. It wasn't just fear for him and this world though.

She'd never trusted someone. Not completely. No, she'd been shoved around too much as a young child to ever want to let people into her confidence again. The blind trust so many young people exhibited had ended her as the object of ridicule and occasionally physical bulling. She'd found her only way to beat the bullies was to become one; shutting others out and reacting violently to all intrusions.

But he was different.

"Jak!"

He turned to her, stopping just short as the door began to open. He was surprised as she had walked up quickly, stealing another hug. The surprise faded quickly though, and he hugged back while wrapping her up in his blanket.

"So you like the team idea?" He snickered.

"Better than being alone." She said with a squeeze.

* * *

**The Author's Corner**

Lot's of introspection on this one... And I've officially stayed up way too bloody late. I got work tomorrow and I'm up like an hour later than I should be to get a proper night of sleep.

I assume you people like my over-working myself tho. XD

Next time,

-Loor


	30. Trapped

**CLEANED UP**

**Clean up notes for this chapter:** HOLY HELL, just five more chapters and we'll over-take the original length of the story... and we just got to the content of chapter seventeen. We kinda skipped sixteen but that's because I feel another encounter with Dark will be better placed at another point in the story. And the chapter title failed. Like... hardcore.

**Disclaimer: Don't own Jak and Daxter. **

**Vacation or War  
****Chapter Thirty- Trapped**

Loor didn't try to sleep for fear of what might arise out of her mind. When she and Jak went to bed, she just curled up in the corner of her bunk and tried to figure out what the hell she was going to do with Lyra. She was being to believe what Jak told her; she couldn't work _with _the beast. Letting her run amok was only making more trouble for the girl... and she was getting better at multitasking with her mind anyway. Before it had been so new to her; she hadn't been able to block Lyra and actively think at the same time. Now, she felt more confident about it.

The question was did she want to try and risk both a failure and the subsequent rage of Lyra? The animal hadn't exactly been happy with her, but she hated to think of what Lyra would do if she were truly angered. If she locked the animal down again, she wouldn't be able to let back up for anything... lest she wanted her breaking out and then forcing transformation.

Not to mention, if it hadn't been for Lyra, Errol probably would have captured her. That fight would have been over in seconds if she and the beast hadn't decided to fight together.

What was it the oracle had told her?

"Trust your rage..." She remembered to herself. "Until you can control it..."

That had been a very strange event she'd gone through. It had led up to Lyra's first transformation, something of a birth to the beast, where the earlier event of her body trying to reject had been something of labor pains. Because of the transformation, Lauren hadn't thought about anything the oracle had said to her. Now she was left in the darkness, avoiding sleep because she _didn't_ trust the animal. Not one bit.

But she remembered now, and one particular thing plagued her mind.

_'You've been tied to this place by bonds even we cannot sever'_

Did that mean...?

"_Can_ I go home?" She whispered into her knees, hugging her legs as the ball she'd curled up into tightened. Did they mean she wouldn't be able to leave, or was it what Onin had already told her, that if she left the death was sure to follow?

Wasn't it kinda the same thing? She felt doubt clouding her thoughts; was going home even worth it, when she'd only live a few months, tops? What would she do in a few months? See a few friends, go back to school? Oh _joy,_ eighth grade.

But with the dark taint, she was probably going to die either way. Didn't that time, her final months, belong to her family? Even if they didn't even know she was dying?

It was odd that she couldn't answer herself. Ignore odd, it was actually a bit scary. It was a simple question of whether she needed to go or she wanted to stay; there were only two options. Such questions she could usually think out in a few moments, and now, given a whole evening, she couldn't figure it out.

_You don't know enough yet. _She told herself. _Keep trying. Ignore Lyra; just because she can talk doesn't mean you gotta listen, and just survive for now. The rest will play out. _

She never un-curled from her corner, eventually dozing off like that.

* * *

Jak was one of the first to be up and out of bed, waking Dax first because it took the ottsel so long to actually be fully awake and then swinging down to Loor to give her a shake. Of course, he found her tucked into a ball; what had to be a most uncomfortable position to sleep in. He found it odd, since they had parted on a fairly positive note last night. Why would she be all curled up, looking like she'd fallen asleep while brooding?

Had she been too afraid of the nightmares to go back to sleep willingly? He felt sorry for her, but it also reminded him that she wasn't nearly as strong as she tried to appear.

He sat on her bunk, grabbing her shoulder and gently shaking her. Of course her body jolted, arms coming loose as she drew in a gasp of fearful air. The whites of her eyes were tainted with red veins; evidence that any sleep she'd gotten had been lackluster at best. She glanced around, as if something was coming to eat her, before sighting Jak and realizing that she was finally awake, roused from whatever fright she'd been having.

"You don't have to deal with that shit by yourself, y'know." He reminded. "If you weren't ready to sleep, you could have told me. I would have stayed up with you."

She shied from his hand, coming out of her corner and going around him to bend over the edge of her bunk, reaching underneath for her effects. "You need sleep too... it didn't matter how long I stayed up anyway; she was still waiting for me when I started snoozing."

He frowned, about to go into how spending time awake and afraid of the coming terror was worse, but was cut off by having his own shirt thrown into his face; she'd retrieved his things as well. "What's on the bill today?" She asked before he could dig into the subject any further, pulling her shirt on and clipping her weapon into place.

Torn, in the back of the room, finally made his presence known. Jak hadn't even noticed the guy when he got up, but the tattooed wonder was over his map table again. That guy probably had lower back problems for how long he spent leaning over that table. "Vin's got some trouble he wants you guys to deal with back at the strip mine. You can handle that _first_ before you go running off every-which-way."

"Jeez!" Daxter's voice announced the fact that the ottsel was awake. "What's got _your_ panties in a twist? It's not like we run off _every _morning without asking you."

"Actually..." Loor was getting her boots on, looking up at Dax, who was standing on the rail of the bunk he'd claimed for himself. "We kinda do..."

"Well he doesn't have to get so uppity about it." Dax stretched, jumping to the floor and skittering across the floor to sit by Jak, who was also getting dressed, strapping his holster on. "We come back when we're told to... at our own pace, of course."

Loor looked up to see that Torn was not reacting to anything they were saying; deciding that ignoring them was likely the least painful course of action. She then looked back to the boys, finishing with her boots and tying her scarf on. "I was meaning to visit Vin anyway. Two birds with one stone for me."

"You two playing nice again?" Dax asked, crawling between the two teens and flopping on his back to look up at them. "Not that I mind being your baby-sitter, Loor, but if you two are gonna be mopy all day I'm skipping out to the Hip Hog to see that sweet barmaid."

"No, we're cool." Jak answered before Loor could complain about Dax's choice in words.

"Least till we find something else to argue about." She huffed, irritated about being cut off.

"Or you could try not arguing." Daxter snickered, stretching before rolling over to claw his way up to Jak's shoulder, the boy done suiting up. "I'm sure all the energy you two spend being mad at people could be put to much better use."

"Like what?" She questioned while standing up, stretching and leaning on the frame of the bunks. "Aside from taking it out on metal heads."

"Oh, I could think of a few things..." Daxter snickered as Jak got up. The two teens were armed and ready to go, Loor leading the way to the stairs up to the street.

"Dax!" Jak scolded, bumping his shoulder up.

"What? The lady asked! And of course I'd be _quite_ available if you needed any extra instruction, Lorie-Loor."

They'd made it up to the street, and she was glaring back at Dax in a way that Jak expected the ottsel to spontaneously combust. Of course Dax didn't notice enough for it to frighten him, which perhaps it should have since Loor was liable to punt him. Still, he did notice enough to go; "_What?" _

"Never call me that." She growled, whipping around and walking for the end of the alley to find a zoomer; there wasn't one on the corner for once.

"What the heck is with everyone this morning?" Daxter groused. "Are we all raw nerves? Can't you guys take a joke? _Jeez!" _

"You think that's bad?" Jak snickered, moving a few steps behind Loor. "You should try calling her the 'C' word."

"Jak!" Daxter seemed totally flabbergasted. "I don't care what she might've done, you _never_ call a girl a-"

"No, not that!" The blond hero shook his head, looking up to verify Loor was far enough away that if she did hear him she wouldn't turn around and take a swing at him. "_Cute." _

The ottsel cocked his head, confused. "I thought girls liked getting complemented..."

Jak shrugged, trotting now to catch up. "She just hates that word."

"What word?" She glanced back at them, another zoomer not being far down the street. It was a two-person model with two cockpits side-by-side.

"That one word you don't like very much." Dax's tone was teasing. "But it sounds like you might kill me if I say it..."

"Jak..." Loor sighed, shaking her head. "You told him about that?"

"No secrets between friends, babe." Dax snickered as Jak hopped up into the zoomer, Loor taking the passenger seat and happily laying back. She didn't wanna drive right now. "Least of all when it comes to the ladies."

"Uh-huh..." The girl got a strange smirk on her face. "So if I ask Jak I'll get all the dirt on you, ah?"

The three laughed as they took off, headed for the power station.

* * *

"Jak!"

Vin was on def con. nine, in the little box he used to get to the upper reaches of the power station's displays. As the trio entered, the box slammed down near the door, the neurotic scientist crouching down inside. "We still got trouble at the strip mine!" He whined, standing up and rushing over to a control panel. "I think the Baron set me up! Actually... I think everyone is trying to kill me!"

"What are you talking about?" Jak questioned, surprised that Vin was being more jumpy than usual.

"Y'know those eco wells the Baron had us drill? It seems he never intended to pipe them into the city grid!" He turned away from the controls, facing the boys and waving his hands, as if to clear smoke out of the air. "It doesn't make any sense!" He then paused, as if a horrid realization had hit him. "You know... open eco wells will attract more metal heads!" He ran over to the three, practically ready to beg on his knees. "You've got to close them off!"

The tech head turned around, having something ready for the occasion; a crate of spherical items that took some doing for him to lift. "Now... these plasmite bombs should do the trick." He gave them over to Jak before the teen was quite ready for it, losing a step and working to steady himself under the weight. "Just drop one into each well, and the blast will do the rest."

Daxter had jumped down by now, watching as his friend was still having issues getting his footing. As he regained it one of the bombs rolled off of the top, the ottsel managing to catch it before it hit the floor.

"Hey!" Vin yelped. "Be careful with that!"

"Plasmite, huh?" Dax asked, shaking the bomb he'd caught as Loor helped Jak with the heavy load Vin had dropped on him. "Cool. How does it work?" The ottsel then squeezed into the heavy ball, causing it to suddenly open to expose a flashing red sensor. "_Agh!" _He quickly turned to Vin, startled and frighted. "I believe this is yours!" He said while tossing the activated explosive to the old man.

Of course Vin caught it, but it quickly turned into a game of hot-potato. "Hey, not my problem anymore!"

"No, really, I insist!"

"Hey, you're the hero!"

"No!" Daxter seemed to come up with the answer. "Jak's the hero!" He then tossed the bomb back into the create... causing them all to activate. Jak jerked the box away from Loor while glaring at his partner.

"Oops..." Dax's ears had fallen. "Sorry, my bad..."

"Great!" Vin's voice cracked a little. "Now you've armed the whole lot! Don't. Move."

The boys froze in place, looking at him for further direction.

"On second thought... MOVE! Far away! Go through the portal and drop one bomb into each eco well before they all go off!"

Jak and Daxter didn't need to be told twice, turning and running for the warp gate on the far end of the room. Loor, on the other hand, knew she wouldn't be any help on this mission. She stayed, watching them go as Vin yelled a final warning;

"You only have two minutes!"

Lauren was left to smirk; that would probably be the most stressful two minutes of Jak's life. That or maybe he'd be having fun again... he seemed to enjoy most of this adventuring stuff when he wasn't out of his mind with revenge. Still, she ignored what had to be on his mind to turn to Vin with what was on her mind.

"Hey." She said, far calmer than the white-haired eco-nut. "You find anything out?"

Vin glanced back at her, having been staring at the portal and near pulling his hair out from under his cap and goggles. Still, he noted her calm and took it as a good sign; he was right to send the trouble twins on that job, even if they made it more complicated than it had to be. "I... uh... well, yes and no." He finally took a few deep breaths, facing her. "I started searching historical records, up and down, sifting through old legends too, since most old stories usually have some basis in fact."

"And?" She was excited, but impatient. Vin was usually one to get right to the point of important stuff.

That made her worry, since he was beating around the bush and explaining stuff.

"Well..." He rubbed his arm. "It seems that there's a point where history just... stops. There's nothing before the precursors, but we've always known their technology, and some of our own. The basic understanding of energy and mechanics spans all known history... but no race just _starts_ with those skills. Lurkers are living proof that a spices has to evolve into using tools and otherwise."

Vin paused. Loor was getting to understand what he was getting at, but let him say it.

"All the evidence points to a civilization before our own... it's a common held theory, but I'd never checked into the facts before. I'd never been much of a history guy, aside from Mar and his various inventions. But the idea is that we bombed ourselves out of existence, and the precursors came to clean up the mess. They call the event before the precursors arrived the Calamity." Vin took a long inhale and let it out as an exhausted sigh, lifting his goggles for a moment to rub his eyes; rich brown hues that were tired with age. "Usually I'd write it all off, but with what you talk about... a world without eco. It makes more sense than a coincidence; I think you're from a time _before_ the Calamity."

Even if she was putting it together herself, hearing it shocked her. The very idea bent her brain in a whole new direction. "So... not a different world... but a different time."

"Which makes getting you home a bit of a problem... precursor technology has been left all over the planet, but we've found a lot of it. There are a few known devices for moving through time, but all of them broke after a single use. It's like they were all made for one specific purpose, and once that's done they fall apart. The precursors were smart... they must have known that if they left the power of time travel in our hands permanently we'd go and mess everything up. Rift rings are the ones that have been found and used, but we haven't seen one of those for years..."

"There's one left." Lauren said glumly. "Exactly one. The last rift gate."

"What?" Vin perked up. "How do you know about it? I know you've been talking with Onin; if we could figure out how to program it, she could give us the exact co-ordinates-"

"It's not meant for me." She looked to Vin, locking onto him. "That last rift ring is in the metal head nest. You may not know this yet... and maybe you shouldn't... but Jak got to Haven using a rift ring. He's originally from a settlement called Sandover, several hundread years into the past. There's some remains of it in dead town. That last rift ring... is going to take him home... in a sense."

"But-"

"The last rift gate..." The girl stared off for several moments. "That's it. I'm trapped."

"Maybe Onin could..."

The girl laughed, but it was a rueful sound. "Onin? You expect an old blind woman to muster a power that the precursors never meant to fall into the hands of man?" She shook her head. "I doubt it. No..."

Her jaw was working. She wasn't happy with the idea of a dead end. She didn't want to think about it being the end of the world for her, but she couldn't ignore the facts.

"It's time to throw it in with the underground, and hope I go out with my boots on. No more even thinking about playing it safe for the sake of survival..."

He was still staring at her, looking like he wanted to say something, anything, to talk her out of her current thought process.

"If I happen to die, this future is safer for it."

* * *

**The Author's Corner**

Ah, some fun interaction with our three heroes, and then some extra bad news for Loor.

Poor girl; all she wants is her old life back.

Next time, punks.

-Loor


	31. Giving In

**CLEANED UP**

**Clean up notes for this chapter: **We're still moving, and what's this? Information! Information that I didn't even figure OUT till book three last time around, and here it is in book one! GOD I LOVE KNOWING WHAT THE HELL I'M DOING!

Moving along...

**Disclaimer: I don't own Jak and Daxter. Meow. **

**Vacation Or War  
****Chapter Thirty One- Giving In**

Lauren had gone outside, unable to hold still. She paced back and forth in front of the door of the power station, feeling like she wanted to rip her own hair out but simply wringing her hands instead, the metal toes of her boots clicking on the walk way and giving her a rhythm of white noise; something in the background that kept her somewhat in reality while also entering her thoughts.

She was stuck. She didn't even know how she'd landed here in the first place, and she was stuck.

_But time... how could this be the future? How far in the future? _

But even as she asked these questions, the answers were coming together in her head. _If_ the people of her civilization bombed themselves to hell, it would be with nukes. Some country that may have just gotten nuclear power decides to press the button, pisses off everyone's sensors, and instant nuclear apocalypse because everyone else fired off their bombs. It was a classic scenario that she usually found laughable, since so many countries with nukes had fail-safes and channels to prevent accidental launches, but what did she know? Maybe a new cold war would start over something; tension world wide until someone snapped.

With nukes came radiation. If anyone survived it wouldn't be without some twists on their genetic structure.

She stopped pacing, looking out to the people of Haven. There were many in the streets, none of them noticing her, lost in their own misery. But still, the ears. A useless add-on to the human structure; they didn't seem to improve one's hearing; they were practically decoration.

A mutation. This was the future of her race. Curiosity raged; she suddenly wanted to examine everyone up-close, search for differences in basic structure between them and herself. Still, she restrained herself. She couldn't just stop random people on the street and start patting them down in a somewhat medieval approach of searching for mutations to bone structure and organs.

_But wait..._ She reached up to her own head, reminded that since she landed, she had those ears too. How had she ended up like them?

_Precursor technology. It's the only way. If my world is the past... they must have done something, so that if anyone ever crossed the point in history where everything changed the people around wouldn't notice and cause panic. _

"Hey, everything alright babe?"

Loor spun around; Jak and Daxter were just leaving the power station, looking at her. That's when the next puzzling twist of all this hit her; if she was from a time far past, how the hell did her time know about this one? And whoever _did_ know... why make a game? Why tell people who would never know the truth about a hero in a medium that had hardly made it past cult acclaim because of its relationship with the media? Why tell _anyone? _

She felt like, though she had only done a 180 to face the boys, her brain was still spinning like a top.

"Uh... fine. Where we going now?"

"As long as my ears are still ringing?" Daxter jumped right in before Jak could call bullshit on Loor saying she was fine. "We're going to the Hip Hog and taking a load off. Some wine, I get to hang with the lovely ladies, and hopefully Krew won't have anything new for us."

"Hopefully the guy won't even be there..." She agreed, doing another about-face to hop back into the zoomer they had driven to the power station. She didn't want to think about any new missions when her head was too full to function. Going to the Hip Hog to just relax a little sounded great.

_Wait... the Hip Hog..._

She wanted to smack herself in the face for losing track, even for a moment; they were heading for a metal-head hunting mission. Daxter was going to get cute with a story and Sig was gonna make him eat his words.

Jak had already hopped into the driver's seat and taken off; it was too late for her to try and back out now. Anyway, she'd decided; if there was no getting out of here, she had nothing to lose.

In fact, if she was brave enough, she'd find a good place to have an 'accident.'

"You sure you're alright?" Jak pried on the drive over.

"Yeah." She nodded quickly. "Vin just kinda... broke my brain is all. Discussing one of my theories, and he blasted the whole thing wide open. Just trying to get my head around it is all."

"You gotta stop thinkin' so much, toots!" Dax advised. "Gonna give yourself migraines, and stress lines... I say save all your worries till you're older, and live while ya can!"

"And just how would you define 'living'?" She asked with a single eyebrow raised.

"Doing whatever you want! See, Jakkie-boy here gets all bent out of shape sometimes, but we'll go sit down for a drink and some stories and soon enough everyone's laughing and having a great time! By the next time we're out doing something serious, we're having fun! Whistle while you work."

"So what if I _want_ to think?"

The ottsel seemed at a loss for a moment, then smirked. "Well, if you're makin' faces like that, you're clearly thinkin' about the wrong things."

"I'm open to suggestions..." She grumbled. They'd left the industrial section behind, entering the port. She wasn't sure if she _could_ turn her brain unto anything else.

"Sure!" Dax left Jak's shoulder, scuttling to the other side of the vehicle to climb up on hers. "What's your preference in drinks?"

"I..." She suddenly felt the urge to blush and duck her head down. "Um... I've never drank. Where I come from, it's a no-no till you're twenty-one."

"_What?" _The orange fuzzy was appalled, and Jak also shot her a confused glance. "So even bad-ass adventurers like me an' Jak wouldn't be able to settle in for a round, just because we're a couple of _teenaged_ guys? You should start a riot!"

"Well... there aren't really adventurers where I'm from either..."

"What? Then who does all the dangerous odd jobs?"

"Dax!" Jak finally broke in, not letting the ottsel grill her. He usually let his friend say what he would, but a glance between him and Loor confirmed his own suspicions; she wasn't freaking out about some experiment or theory. Oh, Vin had blasted something wide open alright, but it was personal to her... and all these questions about her home were things he was well aware she couldn't answer. "Leave her alone."

"You come from a strange place, toots." Dax groused, going back to Jak as they made it to the Hip Hog and landed, Jak leading the way in. Lauren looked around, first noticing that Krew wasn't there; a relief since he was as good as having an elephant in the room. The other thing she noted was the barmaid; someone she hadn't met personally yet, but recognized.

"Tess! Baby!" Daxter greeted as the trio approached the bar, leaping unto the counter to greet the blonde and barbie-figured woman. "Did ya miss me?"

She giggled, leaning on the counter. "You boys here to relax, or is it business?"

"A little bit of both." Dax turned back to the teens, gesturing to Loor. "It would seem our girl here has never had a drink. I'd say joining the underground and losing her sister in the same week, she deserves somethin' on the house."

"Dax!" Lauren was blushing now. "I don't want any, really." She insisted, looking to Tess, who looked just as shocked as the boys had been. "No good to drink on the job, right?"

"A sip never hurt Jakkie-boy's aim."

"That's because that's all I have; a sip." Jak chuckled, patting Loor's back and sitting down. "Don't worry about it; it's not that big a deal."

"Whatever, party poopers!" The ottsel shook his head. "You two are too serious for me. Tess, babe, something with a little zip, 'eh? I wanna relax, but it's no good bein' out in case these two end up needin' me."

"Needing you? Who made you the hero, chili pepper?"

All heads at the bar turned to see Sig had made his way into the Hip Hog, giving a nod to Tess while coming into conversation range but not sitting down at the bar.

"Sig!" Dax smirked. "I'll have you know that I happen to be the star of this outfit. I just let Jak take most of the credit; I get enough attention with this handsome mug."

Loor felt the reflex to correct the ottsel, but Jak had his hand on her shoulder again, shaking his head; it was better to let him have his fun. She eventually nodded, taking a stool next to him.

"Oh, Daxter, tell us about some of your adventures!" Tess said, having gotten something for the ottsel and setting it aside for the moment. "Please?"

"_Anything_ for a lady." Dax assured, grinning at Tess. He then took on a more dramatic air, giving anyone with a brain the feeling that some serious exaggeration was about to happen... and completely sober to boot. "So there I was, toe to toe with _five_ of the nastiest metal heads you ever saw!" The orange animal proclaimed. "Slime oozing from monstrous jaws! Teeth sharper than daggers! Slowly... all _ten _of them surrounded me. But do I surrender? _No! _I summon my highly trained killer instincts, and pounce!"

Loor leaned back from the bar as Dax suddenly flourished about, arms that he'd been using for theatrical gesturing flailing as he gave off karate yells.

"... and when the dust cleared, there were _twenty _less metal heads in the world!"

"Oh, Daxter, you're amazing!" Tess cooed, leaning on the bar.

"Yeah, I know." Dax settled down on his stomach, laying on the bar and motioning to his back. "Scratch me there."

The blond happily obliged as Sig decided to comment.

"Quote a story there, golden boy." The big wastelander said with a smirk. "I guess you're just the 'animal' I need for another dangerous gig. Combat metal heads have now been spotted right here in Haven Forest. These new bad boys have special camouflage, so they're tough to spot, but I'm sure with your 'killer instincts' you'll manage. Go to the forest and take 'em all out!"

Daxter had to stare for a moment at Sig, realizing that he was being forced to eat his words. Still, as usual, he reacted with bravado. "Consider it done, big guy! Those metal heads won't know what hit 'em!" He then leapt up to his feet, shaking off Tess's hand. "Let's go, Jak."

"What happened to taking a load off?" Loor asked with a grin. "I've never seen you in such a rush to face down metal heads."

"Drinks are for the victory party." Daxter deflected, turning to Tess with a smile and a kiss to the hand that had been scratching him so vigorously. "Don't fret, sweetie, I'll be back before you know it."

The blond giggled as Daxter first scaled Loor's shoulder and then leapt to Jak's in turn, who was already standing up and getting ready to go. Loor was a bit more reluctant. In the few moments she'd been sitting her legs had already gotten stiff, sick of walking all the time when usually she was either holed up in her room or running around for a few short hours outside. The near constant activity she'd been enjoying for the last few days made her muscles relish in every second she got on her ass.

But she knew Daxter was going to have his tail between his legs the second they made it to Haven forest, and wouldn't miss it for the world. What Sig had done was a pretty sweet set-up, Dax telling a story and then getting sent on a mission for his bragging, but she got to be there and help out with said mission.

It would be pretty sweet to needle him afterwords.

So she got up and did a quick stretch before nodding at the boys, ready to go. Even if their detour hadn't led to time to relax, she'd been distracted and comforted by once again watching scenes she knew. She could think about home, this place, and all the things between at another time.

Maybe she would talk to Onin again. It couldn't hurt too terribly, could it?

Jak led the way out, but when Loor moved for the zoomer they'd driven in on Jak shook his head no. "C'mon, we'll walk this time. I don't think those metal heads will be going anywhere in a hurry."

"Awe..." She sighed, swinging around to trot and catch up to the boys as Jak got a few steps ahead of her.

"I'm getting the feeling that Sig left out some of the dangerous parts..." Daxter didn't seem so excited now that the lady was no longer watching. "Like how _many_ beasties we're dealing with."

"I think the fact that they're tough to spot would hinder getting an accurate count." Loor pointed out. "Anyway, if there were three or thirty, what would you care, _animal?" _

If Dax wasn't so fuzzy, he might've been blushing. "Ah... I don't! I'm just worried about you and Jak, y'know? If there's a whole horde of 'em, how am I gonna protect you two?"

"I think we'll manage." Loor giggled, shaking her head.

The walk led them past the statue of Praxis, turning up towards the palace and then going around it to enter the Bazaar, headed for the agricultural section. Since they hadn't pissed off the KG, no one was chasing them for once and Lauren got a chance to look around at the market place they were making their way through. Again she was struck by actual stone partitions and walls for stores instead of an animated texture, yellow dust from the sandy ground getting on her boots. Things of all sorts were being sold, from fruit to clothes, baskets and knickknacks, cookware, and otherwise. She noticed that the only thing she didn't see for sale were guns.

She imagined that this was a place in Haven that was usually packed, but only a thin straggle of people came through, and very few had eyes for the wares sold. It was a sad symbol of how the city's economy had suffered from the near slave-wages the Baron paid for city projects, which were probably the only jobs in surplus.

"Hey, Jakkie-boy, is that who I think it is?"

Both she and Jak ground to a halt, looking up as Daxter pointed just off of the way they were walking. The ottsel had spotted someone just off of their path.

Barring a section of the Bazaar with a couple of KG, was Ashelin.

Prickly heat sped up Loor's spine; she'd forgotten about this too. It didn't have a set point in the game; just an event that caught you going to or from one mission or another.

Daxter took a hop to the ground, leading the way over to the red-headed woman with a grin on his face. "How's it riding in the hood, red?" Was his introduction, the two teens following him without much else to do.

Of course, at their approach, the two KG stepped in front of Ashelin to act as a wall of red armor. She _was_ the Baron's daughter. Ashelin pushed them aside, stepping forward and looking fairly pissed off. "Get out of the area." She commanded. "This is Krimzon Guard business! One of Vin's eco tankers is coming in from the wasteland, but the clearance transmission... sounded fishy. The driver was scared. We're going to check it out. Just in case."

"How can we help?" Jak asked as Daxter returned to his shoulder.

"I've got it handled." She snapped, turning back into the cleared square and looking up. The sound of an engine caused both of the guards to step back from Jak, Daxter, and Loor, standing at attention in the square, ahead of Ashelin.

Said engine got louder, a jaw-jarring sound being their warning before the tanker flew into view. The head car of the several-sectioned vehicle slammed into one of the stone walls that made up the square, throwing the whole vehicle off kilter, barrels of eco thrown from the flat cargo beds of the second and third sections. Jak and Loor ducked as flying drums of eco hit Ashelin's escort, the broken tanker grinding to a halt.

The front and rear sections were closed compartments; a tank, possibly for raw eco, and the driver's compartment. Both came open once the tanker had landed.

Metal heads began to leap out.

"A metal head sneak attack!" Daxter yelled, terror unguarded as Jak drew out his weapon.

Ashelin glanced around, seeing that her boys in red had been taken out. "Damn! It's just us, help me take 'em out!"

Loor had her weapons in hand, ready to dive in right along side Jak.

* * *

**The Author's Corner**

OMG I'm so sorry everyone. I've been gone for like... two weeks and I know with the whole re-write that's unacceptable. I gotta keep it moving, or I'll lose peoples... BUT I got a job and stuff, so that's good. Going to spend my first Christmas away from home, which should be interesting...

I love you all, hope my American friends had a great Thanksgiving, and hope everyone has wonderful holidays! I'm willing to take suggestions for a new VoW Holiday Special if any of you guys got 'em.

ONWARD!

-Loor


	32. Control

**CLEANED UP**

**Clean-up notes for this chapter: **Uh... not too many changes to story, just polished up and re-written. ONWARD!

**Disclaimer: I don't own Jak and Daxter. **

**Vacation Or War  
****Chapter Thirty Two- Control**

Loor spun away from a metal head, having struck it across the muzzle with her juice rod; the blue eco crystal inside activated. She was sure she'd just jellied its brain, dragging her heel in the dirt to stop her spin at 180 degrees, pistol hand coming up and firing at another beast that was running full-tilt for her. She had to jump out of the way after the point-blank shot, hitting it in the chest and leaping to the side of the tumble it took into the ground. She wasn't sure if the shot she'd made was a kill shot though, and fired twice more to make sure it was finished.

Not that she was doing all of this calmly. Inside she was on fire, too scared to think straight. What had been several moves had been carried out in a matter of seconds, and there were many seconds before that had put her in this strange state. The metal heads were a mix of juice goons and grunts, and how many there were was anyone's guess. She had dove right in and taken on a grunt before she'd pulled her gun.

She ended up spending half the fight tussling with that one animal. She didn't remember much about it, but that she'd emerged victorious and covered in blood, the sting of dark eco making her kill-crazy. After that she had her pistol in one hand and her juice rod in the other, ready for business.

And business was good. Her mind had entered a very primal state; she had weapons, metal heads were bad, and she'd both the skills and means to get rid of them. It didn't matter that she took a few hits in some of the exchanges, they were minor. The occasional scratch or shock was things she could ignore.

And the blood. She wanted it. After shooting she'd rush in to cut, open a vein and seek the eco. How it burned was both agonizing and... oddly pleasurable. If she weren't so addled she have would known it was Lyra at work once again, revitalized by Loor's first kill and 'helping' from there.

When it all stopped, it was actually quite jarring to her. The metal heads were all in the dirt, Jak was across the square, holstering his weapon, and Ashelin was in the middle, kicking an overturned eco barrel out of the way. Loor stood away, blinking and trying to figure out what had just happened. She remembered rather clearly what had been done, but she felt as if someone else had been doing it, and she'd been just watching.

_**Ah... thank you much. I was wondering when you'd get around to feeding me again.**_

"We got 'em all!" Ashelin proclaimed, breaking Loor away from Lyra's emergence. She and Jak approached the red headed woman, putting away weapons. Loor wiped her brow for sweat but found herself also quite sodden with blood.

Ashelin didn't look happy. In fact, she may have looked worried. Even nervous. "The metal heads are getting bolder every day..." She mused, looking at the carnage in the square. The broken tanker with a litter of corpses around it said they'd won this battle, but it was also proof of the war that wasn't finished just yet. "It's almost like they're testing our defenses, like probing attacks..." She did a quick about-face, walking to leave and likely report back to her father. "I've got a bad feeling about this."

Jak turned slightly to watch her go. "Yeah... you're welcome."

Loor had turned as well, wanting to get moving since they still had a date in the forest with another group of metal heads, but had to spread her legs for balance as she realized all the damaged that she'd ignored. Minor cuts along her arms and some aches around the rest of her body, feeling as if she'd tackled a brick wall, but also the dead sense that said she'd been hit by the juice goons a few times. It wasn't terrible, and she could clearly remember each bruise and scratch... but Lyra had hidden the sensation of pain from her while she'd been fighting.

_Stop fucking with my head. _

"You okay, babe?" Dax asked as Jak stepped up to grab her shoulder; it must have looked like she was having some kind of balance problem and about to tip over.

"I..." She swallowed, shaking her head and standing straight. "Yeah, I'm alright, just took a few whacks during that last bit there."

"A few?" Daxter snorted. "I was watching, toots! You took a lot more abuse than you needed to out there just to mutilate the bodies after you were done with 'em. Your little _condition_ acting up?"

"She's doing what she thinks will help..." She muttered, shaking off Jak's hand and sighing. "Let's move. Sooner we're done, the sooner I don't have to think about it anymore."

"You're still not even trying to control her." Jak observed while starting to walk, getting back on track to continue through the Bazaar and agricultural sections. "She's going to get you killed."

"I don't think locking her up is going to make the nightmares any better." She grumbled back, falling into line and hooking her thumbs on her belt, lacking pockets to stuff her hands into for the similar dejected posture. "It's better to co-exist with her..."

"She'll never be satisfied." He sighed, seeming to accept that he wasn't going to convince her at the moment. "They never are."

"Guys..." Daxter entered into the conversation again. "How many times do I gotta say it...? _Quit with the moping already! _If you gotta argue, at least do it with some enthusiasm, jeez!"

"Enthusiastic arguing?" Loor questioned, looking at the orange fuzzy. "How exactly would one go about that?"

"Well, it could possibly involve mud wrestling... or teams. Or both."

"I'm dirty enough as it is!" Loor said while laughing, her face turning just a little red. "And what's wrong with regular wrestling?"

"It doesn't require bikinis." Daxter replied, a grin on his fuzzy little face. "Duh."

"Dax..." Jak was shaking his head. "Where the hell have you been seeing this stuff?"

"Ooooh, gotcha interested, do I? I knew you'd come around eventually, Jak! I think the Baron might have bulldozed the place, but it used to be-"

"Dax, I think that was a rhetorical question." Loor pointed out, tempted to pull the ottsel's tail again.

"A _what?"_

"You're not supposed to answer."

"Oh." Dax thought on this for a second before becoming upset. "Hey! You guys tryin' to shut me up?"

"I don't think that's possible..." Loor said, rubbing her forehead with another giggle.

* * *

Haven forest was as beautiful as ever when they arrived, which served an irony since it was also full of metal heads at present and was likely one of the most dangerous places in the immediate area of Haven city. Hopping off of the precursor platform that brought them down to the woods, Jak and Loor both drew out their weapons and went to high alert, ready for just about anything. The sun was starting to swing down, trees making long shadows that shifted with the slight breeze that was winding through the branches.

Both teens ducked as the sound of gunfire preceded the rocky wall behind them getting scotched, bits of stone blasting off.

"That was fast..." Loor muttered, pistol in one hand, her juice rod in the other. She was looking out from their ledge; whatever had shot at them had a clear shot from all the trees, making her assume that it was somewhere she could fire back at it.

"Samos ain't gonna be happy... surprised _he _didn't send us out here." Daxter murmured as Jak followed Loor, curious to see just how good this 'special camouflage' the metal heads had was.

"Probably would have if Sig didn't." Loor was at the edge of their landing ledge, looking out into the trees. The lowering angle of the sun had tinted the area a cheery yellow; it wouldn't be long before it started getting dim and then dark. She didn't bother trying to see around the large trunks of trees, instead only looking where she could see clearly; that's where a shot would have been taken from. She was also tense, ready to move, since the metal head would only move back into a visible space to take another shot.

She knew that in the game they were practically invisible, but she wondered just how much of that would translate to reality. Would they really be unintelligible, aside from the glowing skull gem?

Another shot was fired, both teenagers pulling back from the edge as the glowing eco slug flew wide of them and into the tree limbs above.

Indeed they would be.

"We should wait." She said before Jak moved to look again, rolling onto her back to lay flat on the grass. "It's too bright."

"What?" Daxter's voice went up in volume and tone, though he quickly lowered it as a few more shots were directed to their vantage point. "What are you talkin' about? If we can't see them in the light, why would we see them in the dark?"

"The skull gems." She batted back. "They glow. I'll level a bet that if we wait it out their skulls gems will stuck out like white on black. Then we just pick 'em off, same way they're trying to do to us."

"How do you know if that'll work? You think they'll just stay down there, waiting for us to creep back?" Dax glanced to the ledge. "They know where we are now... I don't like it..."

She shook her head. "Metal heads were never known for smarts. Anyway, just cause we can't see them doesn't mean they don't make noise. One tries to sneak up, we'll hear it climbing. _Trust _me, it's easier when it's dark."

"You've done this kind of thing before?" Jak asked, backing away from the ledge and rolling onto his back as well, willing to take her advice for the moment.

"Uh..." She pitched her head upwards, to stay aware of anything beyond the ledge. If she heard anything coming she'd be up and on it in less than a second. She was also trying to signal to the boys that now was _not _the time to be grilling her. Both were already aware that she knew more than she let on... but she rathered the subject didn't come up, lest she be tempted to say something.

They seemed to get the message, because no one said anything after that. It was just waiting, watching the sky slowly dim from yellow to orange, listening for metal heads trying to climb up to their hiding place. Loor gave herself the spooks, able to hear them lumbering about below and twitching whenever something splashed in the river or a twig snapped. Her stave-like weapon was at her side, her pistol more ready if something came up and surprised them, clutched to her chest with an ever-tightening trigger finger.

Orange sank to red; a brief crimson as the world dimmed, the brilliant shade then coming down to gray. Daxter fidgeted, and Jak had his eyes closed. She couldn't do that; closing her eyes would have caused her paranoia to leap through the roof.

Instead she rolled over, creeping back to the edge and looking out again.

She was right; the woods had turned dark, and in that dark she could see several spots of yellow.

"Guys." She hissed, pulling her head back slightly. "I'd say now's a good time..."

They joined her at the edge, and Jak smirked. "Smart move..." He admitted, yanking the blaster loose. Now the area was as good as a shooting range. "Go down and there and raise a little hell; I'll cover you from up here."

He didn't have to tell her twice. She holstered her pistol; hell raising meant she got to do some work up-and-personal, something she was getting more and more used to. Taking her stave in both hands, she moved to the lower woods with a few jumps and charged at the first bit of light within swinging range. Closer she could see a fuzzy outline; a tiny bit of distortion that said there was more there than air.

She yelled to attract attention, slashing horizontally with one blade and following through, flipping the weapon in her hands to twist the other blade up for a vertical slash down. The camouflage malfunctioned after the first hit, revealing to her that the metal head she'd attacked had been facing away from her. Both of her strikes hit it on the back, spinning it around to face her.

And it wasn't dead. If that had been the front it would have been the neck and the chest, but instead she'd gotten caught on it's spine and hadn't cut through. It roared at her, as did several other creatures that must have seen her by now. She didn't worry about them though; just the one that had fangs inches from her face.

The same blade that had struck down popped back up, skimming the ribs and the curved blade lodging in the bottom of the creature's jaw, hooking through and allowing her to lead it around in a direct path to the ground. Standing on the creature and wrenching on her weapon like a lever allowed her to break its neck, withdrawing the blade and looking up...

Just in time to dodge out of the way of several rapid shots, all coming from the same spot; the way a crab head fired. The one she'd just killed was one they hadn't met yet; a more stout type of metal head with plenty of natural armor on the extremities, but not much on the torso. The name of it currently escaped her, too worried about getting shot.

The flash of several yellow eco slugs came from the ledge she'd left the boys on, and the gunfire stopped. A quick glance around told Loor that Jak had picked off seven baddies while she'd been distracting them with killing just one.

"That it?" She called up, seeing that Jak had stood up and was coming to join her in the lower area.

"For this area." He said, stopping at one of the creatures he'd shot to put his hand to the wound. It wasn't respect; he was adsorbing the eco. As much as it pained the both of them, she did the same; the destructive force was likely to come in handy. She just had to keep herself in control...

Lyra was kept at bay during that bout; Loor had focused on just one kill, on moving without her darker side's help, and managed it. Without the opening of fear, the animal hadn't been able to step in... but now she was trying to force her way in. Irritation, the hunger for eco, and pure blood lust only grew as the hot pins and needles of eco adsorption went of Lauren's arm, tending to both her kill and a few of Jak's.

By the time she'd gotten to the last one she was shaking... and he looked perfectly alright. How did he keep in control?

She knew the answer to that; he locked his darker self out. Mentally pinned him to a wall and put him on mute. Was it really necessary?

Maybe it was just easier that way. Maybe he was right; that there was no making peace with Lyra; just chaos as the animal ripped her mind to shreds.

_**What are you thinking? You need me. **_

Anger. Fear. Lyra didn't want the cage, and was getting ready to fight it. Whether Loor was going to do it or not, the animal was ready to react... with force. There was enough eco in her system now; she could probably force a change.

But the suggestion that Loor needed help made her rage to match, reacting violently. _No I don't! _

It was like slamming a door; one moment Lyra was about to scream at her, the next the beast was silent. Gone was her voice and her added emotions, leaving Loor's head strangely clear. But there was also pressure... compressed into a single corner of her complex mind, Lyra was still prowling and pushing... but she hadn't the power to escape.

"Loor?"

The girl turned around, looking to see Dax looking impatient, Jak looking a tad worried and being the one who called for her.

She smiled. "Let's move."

* * *

**The Author's Corner**

Ooooh... Loor's about to learn the hard way that no one has the capacity to control eco... in any form. She thinks she's got it now, but her ass is gun git handed to her. Kehehehehe...

Vets will remember that we're about to hit a MAJOR fight that was probably one of the most memorable events in the trilogy. Many asked for it, and were very happy when they got it.

Now I get to go and make it more awesome... if at all possible.

I think so.

MEOW!

-Loor


	33. Chaos

**CLEANED UP**

**Clean up notes for this chapter: **Well, this is surprising. After all the expanding, this whole thing only took ONE chapter instead of two. Of course, the fight was originally my first song chapter... though I didn't use it this time. If you feel it still needs the song, go look it up and listen to it while you're reading; Papercut by Linkin Park.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Jak and Daxter. Bitches. **

**Vacation Or War  
****Chapter Thirty Three- Chaos**

Without Lyra impeding on her every thought, Loor could still feel the eco in her blood. Of course she could; it burned her and gave her that electrical feeling on her skin. It also made Lyra thrash at her mental bonds, the pressure in her head threatening to cause headaches.

But it never did. She, Jak, and Daxter searched Haven forest for metal heads, seeking and destroying and, in her and Jak's case, adsorbing from each one. At first the pain made her shy away from the purple blood the seeped out of these creatures so plentifully, but she learned it also made her feel stronger. Whether it was the eco or just getting used to fighting without Lyra's influence, the burn turned into something quite intoxicating. It hurt, but she craved it. Her body overruled her mind, fear of pain discarded for the want of addiction.

And that pressure, that bubble in her head... It pressed harder on her ability to think, shorting out her higher brain functions again. For a moment she feared she'd lost it, and her leash on Lyra, with it. They'd made it most of the way through the forest, having gone from the area where she'd taken her bath the last time she was there and up the hill on the other side, traveling through a rocky passage to what looked like some sort of gathering area around a mammoth tree. Beyond that was the lake that the river emptied into, several islands rising up from it where even more creatures lurked. Upon one of those islands they had taken pause, and while slicing and laying hands on a metal head's corpse she felt her mental block shudder.

In that moment she felt a loathing so intense it clouded all of her senses. She lost the world for a moment, salty hatred on her tongue and her vision dropping out. As she came back her ears rung like someone had screamed in them, her skin hot and her palms sweaty.

But she couldn't consider what it meant. They had to keep moving; Jak was already ahead of her. There was one last island that they hadn't been on; one last place to search for these combat metal heads before they could go back and relax. She had moved to get into the water of the lake and swim over, aware that Jak had the JET-board and had just used it to grind on a log between one island and the next, but she had no such equipment or skills.

Plus she needed a rinse cycle; she was a mess after all the fighting she'd been doing.

By the time she'd gotten over, it was all done with. Jak was standing over two crab head corpses, smirking and quite satisfied with their handy-work. "Slowpoke." He snickered at her as she came out of the water.

"Ah, stuff it." She growled back, shrugging and holstering her weapon. "We sure that's all of them?"

"Nothings shooting at us." Daxter pointed out as Jak holstered his weapon. "I'd say that's a good sign."

"Suppose..." She looked around, uneasy but not taking her effects back out, having holstered her weapons while swimming. "Still say we should go back the way we came, just to make sure we didn't miss anything. Sig'll be pissed if we leave the job half-done."

"Relax, babe." Daxter snickered. "We're professionals. Nothing's gonna just sneak up on us."

"Yeah, but I'm _not_." She shook her head, looking back at the water. Now that the battle was past she wasn't looking forward to getting back into the cold lake... but she didn't really have a choice.

Dark water also freaked her out. Not as badly as some people, but it was something she wasn't really fond of. Any water where she couldn't detect the bottom had a way of making her wonder what was beyond her ability to see. Was there something lurking?

"Take it easy, toots." Dax advised. She glanced over to see Jak was moving to take her advice and go back the way they'd come, pulling the JET-board off of his back. "We'll meet you back over by that big 'ol tree, eh?"

She nodded, looking down into the water again. It was nighttime now, the stars that managed to shine through the trees reflected on the water. They looked brighter and bigger on the water's surface, and all the colors now interested her. It gave her something to think about while trying to convince herself that she needed to get back into the cold wash.

She could see her face in the water, and next to her reflection was a particularly large yellow star. It was peculiar...

It wasn't a star.

* * *

Jak had just made it to the next island when he heard a scream, whipping around to look back.

"Uh-oh..." Daxter muttered, staring back to where they knew Loor to be. They couldn't see her; a tree was in exactly the right place to obstruct their view. Yet to put away the JET-board, Jak turned around at once to go back for her.

They must have missed one; and she'd put all of her weapons away. The split second it took to draw a gun could mean life and death with the animals they were dealing with. He was all set to switch from the board to his morph gun the moment he made it to the other side, either to save her ass or provide back-up if she had it handled.

He landed and put the board away, but stopped himself from drawing his weapon when he saw that she didn't need any help.

Least, not with the metal head. It had already been ripped apart; a third and final crab head left in a bloody heap of flesh and blood. And, literally seated atop the corpse, was the form that was usually Loor. Black eyes and white skin were hints to the truth, her ears having pointed more prominently up and furred, claws dug into the mass of flesh beneath her, and a tail lifted up into the air.

Lyra stared at them, a purring growl rumbling up from her chest.

"Jak..." Daxter whimpered, staring. "She's-"

The animal leapt at them, bolting from her still-bleeding perch to land just before the trouble twins, gathering her legs under to launch a full-bodied tackle.

Daxter took off from Jak's shoulder at the blond hero caught the creature, not going over from the force of the tackle and shoving her back. Eco was able to push Loor's body to the absolute limit; that was true... but there wasn't a whole lot there to push at the moment. The girl was still recovering from two weeks in a containment tank.

But that didn't change the fact that the animal had claws; needle sharp and ready to rend. He was about to go after her, to try and pin her down and wait for the charge to wear off, when she suddenly darted around him. He glanced around, not sure of where she'd gone. A step forward and several quick moves of his head and eyes verified that she wasn't anywhere in plain sight...

He then looked up.

She had scaled a tree, on her way down with talons out. He moved, but not soon enough, three long cuts burning down his back. He didn't yelp, grunting slightly while turning and backing away from her, feeling more than the sting of rent flesh.

She'd jolted him with some of the excess eco Loor had gathered through their mission. He felt it in the same way Loor had been suffering; the cap he tried to put on his darker side harder and harder to keep as he dared to add eco to his person. It was difficult, that he would admit, but it turned out to be worth it now and again. That jolt was an aggressive shot, and his mind grew most distracted in trying to keep Dark in check.

It also made him smirk; the animal thought a spark of eco was going to put him out of commission? Unlikely. He'd grown impervious to such things.

She leapt at him again, and he met her in the middle, ducking under her talons and briefly lifting her around the middle, then veering to the side to bear her to the ground and keep her there. He didn't dare do anything more damaging than that; Loor was going to be upset enough.

She'd been making and effort to control herself the whole mission; he'd been able to see that. He was happy that she'd finally taken his advice, but it turned out that it hadn't done her any good; Lyra must have overpowered her mind in a moment of surprise and fear when the metal head snuck up on her.

And Lyra had enough eco to dissolve a hut. She kept letting off jolts, not even bothering to struggle with him while hitting him with shock after shock.

It made him lose it for parts of seconds; his breaking point wasn't far off. Dark was pounding from the other side, his rage coming through and disorienting Jak, making him clench his jaw in a massive effort to hold back and wait for Lyra to burn out.

That's when he realized it; she wasn't trying to hurt him.

She was trying to bring Dark out.

That made him release her, rolling back and away from her. She had been ready though, leaping after and landing on top of him before he could get back to his feet. She wore an insane grin that twisted Loor's usually pleasant face, fangs in a grotesque display of joy. She _knew_ that he wouldn't be able to hold on much longer. She now held his wrists to the ground, clutching his body with her legs, and lowering her head to his neck.

Like Dark, she wished to assert dominance. But she had no wish to dominate Jak's human half; that was something for Loor.

No, she wanted to bring out his other side, and then take him down. The shocks she was expending were much smaller than what she'd use in a hostile situation; all she wanted was to aggravate him enough.

And she got her wish. The change came with him giving off a primal roar as she was unexpectedly thrown, landing hard and rolling. She was back up and looking in a moment, licking the fangs she'd nearly laid to his neck, the fur on her tail fluffed out as she anticipated what was to come next.

He stood up from where she'd had him, sparks following his person as the transformation took. Silver hair spilled around black horns, deathly white skin broken at his fingertips by ebony claws.

And black eyes, staring at her. Fangs to match hers, mouth coming open to growl at her.

There was a moment's hesitation before they both leapt at each other, roaring. Neither wanted to kill the other, but this was a war of dominance. They certainly would destroy each other if that was what it took to come out the victor; and neither had the capacity to give up.

Both knew the mark of victory though; one's fangs on the other's neck.

He dove down at where she crouched on all fours, head lowered for his horns to be of use, kicking off with talons forward. She moved quickly, rolling to her back and grabbing those horns, lifting her knees into his stomach and flipping him over her, letting go and shaking herself off while getting up again, making a quick move to turn about.

As she was fast, he was strong. If she was taken by surprise, she'd be finished.

Her turn wasn't quick enough; he'd seized her tail and yanked, making her yowl both in humiliation and pain, twisting her body to get at him. He used the fuzzy appendage as a leash, since it was essential to her balance while she was down on all fours. As she tried to spin about to get her claws on him, he would yank the other way and make her fall over, then pouncing upon her while releasing it.

He'd pinned her torso on weight alone, but her hands were free. Such hands didn't bother with taking his shoulders to try and throw him off, or his arms to prevent any extra damage; she went straight to his neck. Somewhere in Loor's mind was the proper from for strangling someone, and Lyra had found it and filed it away.

She didn't want to kill him; just convince him to get off of her. She refused to be the submissive one. At first he fought her, talons raking her arms while trying to remove her restricting fingers, sparks traded as he failed to do so.

He then switched tactics, pulling his head back from her squeezing fingers and slashing for her body. She screamed at the pain, a tortured and guttural sound, finding the strength to fling him off and follow after, occupying her fangs with his arm as she struck blood along his side, the other hand landing on his thigh and leaving shallow scratches as he rolled with the motion, throwing her over the side but failing to dislodge her teeth. She bit into him, ripping the muscle before finally letting go and swallowing the blood in her mouth.

Both were damaged, but neither would surrender. She was after him again before he'd even moved to sit up again, making him dodge out of the way by rolling over his shoulders, coming around and ready for her to charge again, lowering his horns once more.

This time he caught her in the stomach, pulling his head up with the intention of goring her and throwing to the side, lifting his damaged arm and tucking it to his body while standing up to roar at her.

He was sure he'd driven the tips of his horns in deep enough to hit something important; maybe keep her on the ground for a few moments. He wasted one to see if she'd get up, but she lay on her stomach.

He grinned at the idea of victory. Of course he'd emerge the dominate one.

He hardly noticed that the fur had faded form her ears, the tail vanishing. He only approached to roll her over and do as he'd attempted the first time he'd met this female.

Sadly, his step faltered.

He'd sapped his supply of eco; his time in this world was up.

* * *

Daxter had been hiding up in a tree, watching as Loor and Jak had changed into their dark forms and proceeded to rip each other apart. It was a display that frightened him on various levels, particularly when the creature known as Lyra started chewing on Dark's arm. Before that it seemed they were after something else, but it eventually broke down to the two of them trying to kill each other.

Now Dax was left to stare as both had clearly reverted to their normal forms... but passed out. Jak was bleeding pretty heavily from the bite in his arm, not to mention the scratches on his back and leg, and Dax had seen the horns to the stomach Loor had taken. Something vital might have gotten punctured...

The ottsel was quick to dive down, going to Jak and rifling through his buddy's stuff. He was looking for the comm. unit. These two needed help; now. The air had turned tense, making Dax all the more frantic in his search for the device. He _had_ to get them help. _Now. _

Finally digging out the item from Jak's hip pouch, Dax was able to find Torn on the contacts list and call him, impatiently and nervously glancing between the two passed-out teens.

"_What the hell do **you** want?" _

"Jeez, King Laryngitis. Sorry if I wrecked your beauty nap, but we need a little help down here."

* * *

**The Author's Corner**

It's really tough to write the dark personalities without them doing any instant-kill moves...

BUT YAY! I loved this fight back in the original, and I love it even more now because there's a reason for it. Last time it's like OMFG we have two dark-eco gotten creatures, let's make 'em try and kill each other! Now it's the whole dominance thing. I like it when things are for reasons.

And HOLY CRAP I've cranked out two chapters tonight.

My wrists hurt... meow.

-Loor


	34. Caged

**CLEANED UP**

**Clean up notes for this chapter: **NEW EVENTS! Yeah, I'm adding stuff... are we complaining? I donno... Meow.

**Disclaimer: I don't own Jak and Daxter. **

**Vacation or War  
****Chapter Thirty Four- Caged**

_**How dare you... **_

Loor woke into her mind long before she woke into her body, but the room she'd seen for the past two times was nowhere to be found. Instead she floated in inky black, constricted by shadows, unable to get her bearings as Lyra hissed in her ear.

Here she felt the animal's emotions, not contained within her own feelings, but like a fire beside her, radiating rage. Loathing. The intent to kill her. The wish to make her feel all definitions of the word terror.

_**Listening to him... locking me up... if I could kill you I would. **_

The room suddenly rushed in, giving Lauren something to stand on as the dizzying flourish of color was blocked by Lyra's sudden appearance. She realized she was up against a wall, Lyra's hand on her neck, fangs out in the open, the beast seething.

_**But I can't. I know I can't rip you apart without destroying myself... so I'll do the next best thing. **_

Lyra's other hand was drawn back, the claws brought together into a single sharp mass.

Pain. Lauren had never known it quite so intimately as she did at that moment. She knew that Lyra's claws had entered her body, stuck into her stomach and dug deeper, as if she intended to dig through her organs and rip out her heart. Her mouth came open to scream, but not even that could be done as agony rose up in waves.

_**I'll drive you mad... make you wish you were dead. You'd rather be insane... an alter would never be able to do this to you! **_

She was now sure Lyra had seized her heart, feeling as if the chambers had ceased to beat for a moment as her mental body crumpled, gasping, tears flowing and mixing with a steady drip of blood out of her mouth. Lyra wouldn't allow her to curl up, as her postured indicated she wished, forcing the girl's head back and holding her tight to the wall.

_I told you... to stop fucking with my head... you didn't listen... _

_**You can't survive without me! Your abilities in combat may be growing, but your mind isn't suited to this reality. If I had left your logic engine alone, Errol would have killed you by now! You can't survive on logic and reasoning alone, you need a little passion! A little rage! **_

_I have rage... _

Lyra gave pause before giggling, ripping her arm out of her, blood splattering on the forest green carpet, the girl still held to the wall aching to curl up and protect the wound. _**Not enough... your passions are growing, but they'll never fix that mind of yours... you're already hardwired. **_

The animal pressed her body to Lauren's mental form; her little human form, reminding her of just how small she was in this world. Lyra was taller, curvacious, and still holding her so dangerously. And yet... a new danger had bloomed. With the rage, Loor could sense another irritation in Lyra's world. Something else she was not yet satisfied with.

_**And your passions, be it lust or hate, frighten you... you try so desperately to control them, when you should trust them every now and then. **_

_What did you do?_

_**Me? **_She laughed, leaning in and licking Lauren's nose. **_I just tried to have a little fun with the male... sadly we hadn't enough time... _**

Lyra's irritation came clearer now; her raw sexuality once again pulsing through. Lauren wasn't drawn into this time though; instead, she found her rage. Gone was her fear, her pain forgotten as she locked gazes with her beast.

_What the hell did you do?_

_**Oh-ho! She does have a little rage, eh? What do you care, mmm? Afraid that I got to him first? **_

_You will not touch him. _She seethed, feeling her hands shake, fingers clenching into fists. She had realized something; this was her world. Her mind, her domain, as it were. She'd controlled it before to escape, making a door.

What else could she make?

_**I won't, eh? Whose going to stop me?**_

_ME! _

The room seemed to lurch, finally throwing Lyra off of her. Another thing Lauren realized at this moment was Lyra was at her very weakest. At this moment the animal could be locked up again, forced back into the darkest corners of her brain.

She would do just that.

* * *

Jak awoke in a bunk, though it was not the one he usually slept on. He knew that because when he looked up it was at the bottom of another bunk above him, not the ceiling. It left him to blink a few times, trying to remember exactly how he'd ended up back at the underground.

He remembered Lyra forcing him into the change, and then nothing. He didn't usually pass out after a transformation; that was something Loor did a lot though. The fact that they'd both changed... at the same time...

He felt a shot of worry, forcing himself to sit up despite a massive amount of pain that spread up from his back and side, a minor ache in his leg. He was able to ignore them to look around, finding himself in the bunk below the one Torn usually slept in, and Loor in her usual bunk, still sleeping. She was curled up under a blanket, the look on her face twisted and unpleasant.

He put an arm down to turn in the bunk and get his feet on the floor, only to get hit with another wave of pain that made the searing sensation on his back seem like nothing at all. Looking down he found his left arm wrapped up tight, the pain coming from deep in the muscle.

He looked back over to Loor. She was totally covered by the blanket, so he had no idea if she was injured as well.

What had they done to each other?

"Take it easy, buddy."

Jak's head whipped to the end of his current bunk; Daxter had been sitting there, waiting for his friend to figure out what was going on. As usual, the ottsel jumped ahead to answer the questions that hadn't been asked yet.

"You both got pretty messed up, but a few health packs and a good night of sleep and you two should be fine for tomorrow... or so Torn and Samos say." The ottsel carefully crawled up, looking over to Loor as well. "She ripped up your clothes, so Torn got you some new threads... they're a lot like the old ones."

"What about her?"

"Eh... lot of internal damage, should be okay though. Horns to the stomach."

His good arm lifted, a hand flying to his head. He regretted not realizing what Lyra was getting at sooner. If he had just run from her, or figured out some kind of distraction...

"Well, now that I know you guys aren't going to die, I think I'm going to be off again." The ottsel chuckled while moving for the ground. "Tess might get worried about me if I don't show up tonight!"

"Don't get too messed up." Jak managed a smirk. "We might need you tomorrow."

"Hows 'bout I bring something back to share?" Dax grinned. "I think we all deserve a drink after that!"

Jak shook his head, waving his friend out the door while carefully maneuvering himself using only his good arm. Shifting around let him take a look at himself and realize he'd been stripped of his damaged clothes, left in his underwear. Thinking about it, he decided to get up and retrieve his new things off of the table in the back, but he wouldn't bother putting anything on. There was no point if he was just going to climb up to his bunk and go to bed.

And that was his plan; he was going to kill the lights and get some sleep. It was best he stayed still while the green eco did its work, or the muscles could mend funny. He'd just turned the lights out when he noted Loor again.

The look on her face... she had to be experiencing another nightmare.

Sighing, he let go of the ladder up to his bunk and came around to sit on the edge of hers, shaking her gently. Thankfully, for once, the jolt she came to the living world with was a small one, gasping and lifting her head off of her pillow.

She instantly put her head back down, groaning and turning into her pillow to swear at length.

"You too, huh?" He chuckled softly.

She growled, one eye opening to look up at him. She then blinked; obviously realizing that the pain in her head was equaled if not surpassed by her body.

With that, realized that something more than her own transformation had happened.

He lifted his bad arm to show her, his smile weakening. "Lyra forced me... Don't try to move, it'll mess up the healing process."

She slowly nodded, turning her head up and out of her pillow to open her other eye and talk. "I... I'm sorry..."

"Sounds like I did more damage to you, actually." He noted, letting the damaged arm rest in his lap.

"No. I should have listened to you sooner." She sighed, shifting in bed despite what he told her about moving. "About locking Lyra down... I wasn't used to blocking her... I didn't stand a chance when that metal head spooked me. You're right.. all she cares about it ripping me apart."

"Well... you're not dead yet, are you?"

"Feels like I should be..." She groaned, closing her eyes again and grimacing.

"Yeah, but you're not." He snickered. "Which is pretty lucky... considering you've met Dark twice now."

"Feels like he tried this time... good Christ, what did he do, try and yank out my stomach through my bellybutton?" She was shaking her head, sweat on her brow indicating just how small her pain threshold was.

"You... you've never been seriously injured before, have you?" He asked, cocking his head to the side. It was strange; she had known to wait till dark on their last mission, seemed pretty knowledgeable in general, and yet she had trouble with wounds after the green eco was already in her system. She understood weapons like the morph gun and juice rods, and knew how to fight up close and personal in theory, but had no practice. None of it made sense...

"No... I was pretty lucky with that." She gritted her teeth, turning under her back to stretch out and letting go a reedy cry of pain before settling again. "Though I guess this is just the karma-gator biting me in the ass."

He watched her for a moment as she looked more comfortable on her back, though her feet had come out from under her bunched up blanket and she was making no move to adjust it. He knew that she wasn't supposed to say anything, and didn't want to lie to him... but he couldn't help wanting to know. He hesitated, the two of them just sitting there in the silence for a long time.

Finally, he decided he needed to know. He just had to prod gently, figure it out a little at a time... it wouldn't be terirble, would it?

"Lauren..." He paused, use of her real name making her look up at him, expecting something important to follow.

He struggled, again, between his curiosity and the fact that she was likely to get upset if he asked.

She then blinked, frowning slightly. "Uh... sorry, but... I just realized they must have taken my clothes when they fixed me up... I think the only thing I still have are my panties... Where the hell is my bra?"

"Totally walked in at the wrong time!"

Both Jak and Loor looked to see that an extra had joined them for the evening; Tess had come into the underground with Daxter draped across her shoulders, a few bottles held in her arms of what had to be wine. Daxter had a stupid grin on his face that explained exactly what he assumed from hearing Loor question the location of her missing undergarment.

"Tess." Jak was clearly surprised by the blond's presence. "Everything okay at the Hip Hog?"

"Of course!" She giggled, smiling. "I don't work _all _the time. Daxi showed up just as my shift ended, and I heard about you guys getting all messed up on that last mission, so I figured I'd bring some pain relief, on the house. Of course, if you two are enjoying some time alone..."

"We're not!" Loor snapped, though suddenly raising her voice made her abdomen scream in pain.

"Jeez, Loor, no need to get defensive about it." Daxter snickered. "C'mon, Jak, get her sat up and decent, we got our own victory party here."

"Guys..." Loor groaned as Tess came down to sit on the bunk that Jak had previously been sleeping on, Daxter hopping off and diving under Loor's bunk to where she usually tucked her things; also where her clothes had ended up. He'd been conscious while Samos was working on healing them, so of course he knew where everything had ended up.

When the ottsel emerged with her sports bra, Loor took on a suspicious tone. "You weren't... peeping while they fixed me up, were you?"

"I wish!" Dax huffed. "Samos had Torn hold up a curtain while he worked on you. Guy's no fun, even if he doesn't remember us!"

Jak plucked the undergarment from Dax's hands, tossing it to Tess. "Help her get that on." The blond hero huffed, getting up to retrieve cups from a shelf in the back of the underground, taking Daxter with him.

"Protective..." Tess admired while moving over to Loor's bunk, bringing an extra pillow from the other bunk so the girl had something extra to lean on once she sat up. Actually getting her to sit up took some work, but eventually she was upright and, with Tess's help, decent. "Is what Daxter told me true?"

Loor shrugged, irritated that Tess and Daxter saw her and Jak as a couple. "What did he tell you?"

"That you and Jak nearly got yourselves killed, competing over who could kill more metal heads. He said that's how you two got so messed up."

Loor leaned her head back to see the boys beyond the table, getting cups from the shelf, smiling softly at Dax. Seemed the ottsel had some respect after all.

"Yeah. That's exactly how it went."

* * *

**The Author's Corner**

Three chapters in one night? HOLY HELL.

And this one is pretty much new. I love this! I get to add so much stuff. Sure it's making the story really long... but is anyone complaining? LOOR THINKS NOT! Least... I'm not. XDD

MEOW!

-Loor


	35. Precursor Junk

**CLEANED UP**

**Clean-up notes for this chapter: **Can I even call this clean-up? Some of these chapters are practically new... XDD MEOW!

**Disclaimer: I don't own Jak and Daxter. **

**Vacation Or War  
****Chapter Thirty Five- Precursor Junk**

Loor had learned she enjoyed sweet wine, not just for the flavor, but for the fact that it made her forget about the hole in her stomach that was slowly healing. The pain had slowly ebbed as Daxter convinced her that a sip wouldn't kill her, and that once she started the cup she was obligated to finish it. It was a little odd to have her first taste of wine out of a coffee mug, but she wasn't going to start arguing when she was happily ignoring the space in her abdomen the size of Texas. One cup had turned to two, and once finished Tess refilled her again without asking.

That and the warm feeling that spread through her body helped her relax. She'd pretty much skipped on the conversation, having watched one too many movies where the person with a secret spills all the beans after getting buzzed, but she was more than happy to sit back and watch the other three talk and laugh. She felt like she was just about ready to drift off into sleep...

When she realized just how freakin' cold her toes were. Looking down she saw the fact that her feet were still uncovered from when she'd stretched out earlier... and though her pain was mostly numbed away by her third cup of wine, she didn't want to chance reaching down to rearrange the blanket or moving excessively.

"Hey..." She turned back to the others. "Sorry, but could someone please pull my blanket over my feet...? My toes are cold."

Jak turned, having seated himself on the floor while Tess had the bunk across from Loor, Daxter situated on her lap. That made Jak the one closest to her and the prime candidate to cover her feet. He must have been feeling better too, though he had only partaken in one cup and never refilled it, because he was able to used his bandaged arm. "Should have covered them earlier, before you did something freaky with them."

"Freaky?" Daxter asked. "Wusshe do that's freaky?"

It probably needn't be mentioned that Daxter had a whole bottle to himself.

"Her toes... grab stuff... It's messed up."

Tess giggled as Loor shrugged, happy to back out of the conversation again, but the lady that was so content with petting Daxter didn't let her. "You've been really quiet, Loor. Something bothering you?"

"For once, no." She shrugged, smiling. "I'm used to so many things flying through my brain... and now? Nothin'. I've managed to stop worrying... for ten seconds." She snickered, closing her eyes. The warmth was something that could lull her straight to sleep if left alone.

"Loor? Stopped worryin'? Sommon look ousside an' make sure the sky ain't fallin'!"

Loor opened her eyes to glare. "Jak, do you have something I can throw?"

Jak held up his empty cup in response.

"Hey! Jus makin some fun! Jeez... you know I love you guys..."

"You're lucky I'm not supposed to move..." She paused, feeling a yawn coming on and instantly sucking in a deep breath and holding it; it was the only way she'd learned so far to avoid the squeak. "Or I would do some seriously mean things... possibly with a razor..."

"What are you idiots doing awake?"

Four heads whipped around to see Torn had returned to the underground, confused on why there was a small party going on.

"Tess, what are you doing here? I thought you found a place in South Town, closer to Krew."

"I heard these two got hurt and decided to come and make sure everything was okay." She smiled innocently, still petting Daxter.

"Yeah, but they should be resting, not boozing. Loor had internal damage; if her liver had been hit you could have fucked her up bad."

"Ah, killjoy!" Daxter chastised, sitting up on Tess's lap and sticking his tongue out at the tattooed wonder.

"Pack it up." He ordered, climbing up to his bunk and only shedding his boots.

"He's just mad we dinnet invite 'im..." Dax slurred, shaking his head. "Alright, alright... but I dun wanna leave my sweetie..."

"Awe, it's okay Dax. I'm sure I'll be around the next time you guys swing by the Hip Hog." Tess gave him one last stroke down the back, getting up to collect everyone's cups and stash them in the back, picking up the leftover bottles to take with her. "You two feel better." She said while smiling at Jak and Loor.

Jak chuckled, nodding, while Loor just smiled, her eyes closing again as Tess went up the stairs and left.

"One in a million!" Daxter snickered, hopping down from the bunk he and Tess had been sitting on, crawling on all fours to get over to his bunk. "That's wasshe is... one in a million."

"You like her that much?" Jak asked while getting up, picking Dax up to help him to his bunk; he didn't trust the ottsel not to slip and fall while intoxicated.

"Mmmhm..." Dax chuckled before hefting a yawn. "Shs just my type too..."

"Aside from being ten times your size."

"That's the best part... so squishy..."

Loor giggled at Daxter's drunk musings. "Don't tell me I sound like that and just don't realize it..."

"Eh?" Jak turned around. "No, you don't seem too bad, but you've been sitting the whole time. Some people don't get whacked till they stand up."

"I feel it... it's all warm and stuff... makes me feel like jell-o..." She tried to move to scoot back down in bed, but doing so reminded her that her pain wasn't actually gone, just muted. "Ah... dammit..."

"Take it easy, you'll screw yourself up." He cautioned while coming to help ease her back down. Usually he wasn't so caring, but it was the fact that he felt at fault for the damage done to her; in a way he had personally ripped her apart. Some of it was guilt, but it was also good to see her smile as she settled in to sleep, tossing the extra pillow back on the other bunk.

It made him smile too, seeing her so relaxed.

* * *

When Lauren awoke the next morning, she was almost afraid to move. She remembered the pain from the night before, and was in no rush to experience it again. Still, there was a pressing matter that would keep her from staying in bed forever; she heard something buzzing under her bunk. It had to be her comm. unit. Why someone was calling her, she'd never guess... which is why she had to roll over and find out.

She was surprised that when she did move it was only a dull ache that radiated up from her abdomen, not the stabbing and terrifying agony that had frightened her so badly the night before. When she'd woken up from her... confrontation with Lyra, she'd been sure what the animal had tried to do to her had somehow made its way into the real world, actually effecting her body in some crazy 'the brain believes it and makes it real' Matrix type thing.

Honestly, the truth wasn't that much better. Lyra had forced Dark out of Jak, and the two of them had fought. Loor wondered why the two hadn't just jumped each other's bones, what with their similar intentions, but didn't bother to ask.

No, Lyra was locked away now. Silenced. The only time Loor would hear from her would be from those terrifying moments when the animal got loose and into the living world.

Grunting softly, Loor leaned over the edge of her bunk and retrieved her comm., answering it and getting surprised by the video feed.

Keira. The face shocked her at first since she'd met the girl, but hadn't seen her face then. No, she'd been behind the curtain, working on her replica of the rift rider... which was actually the one they'd used in the first place, hidden away for Samos by his apprentice Gol, who would later become a dark eco sage with his sister and turn into a sick and twisted creature needing to be defeated by the trouble twins... who would then find the rift rider and use it to get to Haven.

Yay for history loops.

"Yessum?" Loor answered her comm. while blinking away sleep from her eyes.

"_Hey, I've been doing that research you asked me to do, and I was wondering if you could come down to my garage to talk about it."_

"You got it. Be there soon."

The exchange was quick and to the point, the line going dead and Loor tucking the little device away. She'd almost forgotten that she'd spoken to Keira on the issue of precursor crap that might have caused her arrival in this world...

No, not world. _Time._ She had to keep reminding herself of that. It was frightening, but also fascinating now that she thought about it. Somehow, the human race had survived a nuclear holocaust and winter. Hoping that her own family had been one of the smart ones that weren't on ground zero when the bombs hit, she could have some distant cousins that made it to this era.

Not that she'd ever know it... So many years after a genetic bottleneck like that, she likely shared a a percentage of similar DNA with everyone if any of her family's genetics had made it through. And the only way to find out would to swab the whole city.

She shook her head while sitting up to get dressed. She was not here to play scientist, as much as she wanted to. She didn't have any equipment to carry anything out anyway.

Sitting up and looking down, she found that her stomach had been bandaged; something she hadn't been able to feel over the pain last night.

"You can remove that."

She jumped, having not realized anyone else might've been awake. Looking up she found Torn at his usual post in the back, but he wasn't alone.

The Shadow was present as well; or as some people knew him, Samos. He must have dropped by to check on how she and Jak healed after their little run-in with each other.

"Oh.. Um..." She nodded while looking for the tail of the bandage, finding it tucked in at her side and starting to unwind it. The binding must have kept everything together for the eco to work, but also to discourage her from moving. Finally loosing her stomach, she found that she was left with two small scars on either side of her bellybutton, and even those looked as if they were weeks old in normal healing terms.

Eco did cool things.

"What kind of creature did that to you?" Samos asked. "We heard reports of combat metal heads in the forest, but I've never seen a wound quite like that."

"I'm not sure." She lied quickly, the action as natural as breathing. "Caught me by surprise with the stupid camouflage... I was out before Jak had finished saving my ass from it."

"Sloppy." Torn snorted. "Don't get cocky next time. I heard about it from Tess, that you two had turned it into something of a game. Take it as a lesson; you'd better take those things seriously, or they'll take you out."

"I'd better send a scout team out there to check the bodies... we might be dealing with something new." The Shadow grumbled, shaking his head. "You're free to go for now; Torn or myself will call you back when we need something."

She nodded, getting dressed quickly and checking her weapons before moving to leave. She also paused to look and see if the boys were still there.

They weren't. At first she was mad they had taken off without her, but then reminded that she _had_ been royally injured. Jak must have decided her resting was more important. She had trouble deciding whether she wanted to be mad or grateful, but she ended up dismissing it to get moving.

Keira wanted to talk to her in person; perhaps the mechanic had found something.

* * *

The stadium was buzzing when Loor got there, making her realize something; it was race day. She knew this feeling, and some of the smells. There were people hanging around, the general excitement and discussion going on outside. Some were moving to go inside, getting seats before the place was totally packed, which it would be.

She moved quickly, disliking the crowds. It worked better to pretend the people weren't there, dodging through them after being forced to dismount her zoomer before entering the square. Once she was up the steps and on her way to the garage the crush was left behind. She didn't look forward to fighting her way back through that crowd.

She entered the garage, shocked to find Keira out in the open, working on a racing zoomer. "Uh... heyo?"

Keira turned, blinking. "Ah! There you are. Sorry to bring you up here when it's so busy, but I found something interesting... Loor, was it?"

"Yeah." She stepped closer as Keira slipped back behind her curtain, hearing the sound of books getting shoved around. "I never caught your name."

"Keira, I put it on contact information I gave you. Now where was that...? Oh, here it is!"

The blue haired girl emerged with an old and tattered book, flipping it open to a dog-eared page. "There's a few artifacts out there known to screw around with time, but I couldn't find any that activated on their own when close to an eco source. Most precursor technologies need direct energy input, or they power themselves. It's tough to track down things according to a particular use or function because, with a lot of it, we're not quite sure what it does."

She set the book down, pointing to an odd sketch of a machine. Whatever it was looked to be hooked into some type of rock, mainly a flat panel with several indicators and a few shunting loops of wire, crossing back and forth and hooking back into the mechanism. "The only way we can guess at something's use is how it looks, and compare it to a known artifact and assume similar structures have similar functions. This hunk of junk was found years ago, and hundreds just like it; the outside was intact but the inside was melted. _But_ these eco shunts..." She indicated the wires crossing back and forth. "Are similar to this piece of equipment."

Keira flipped to a different page, to what looked like a type of drill. "The Baron found a cache of these babies a while ago. Notice the shunts?" Keira pointed out the similar wiring at the top of the device. "These things are used for detecting eco deposits underground, like a dousing rod for a well. They can pull up just enough eco power to get the drill bit going and find the rest."

"So this thing..." Loor flipped the page back to Keira's unidentified artifact. "Has the same shunts, so it might react to eco without being in direct contact with it... but no one has any idea what it does because it's broken."

"Exactly." Keira nodded quickly, picking up the book and shrugging. "According to this, there's a lot of these things, scattered all over the world... and it looks like they all broke at the same time... Even stranger, they're all the ones that have been found have been found buried underground at about the same depth... does this help at all with what you were trying to fix?"

Loor was standing aside, thinking. Hundreds of machines, exactly the same, broken at the same time, hidden all over the world and buried at similar depths.

Like some sort of field. A blockade or a portal.

"I'd like to find one of those things and examine it." Loor said, her mind starting to fire faster. "I don't know much about precursor technology... but if I could just get my hand on one... maybe I could..."

"Pull apart what's left and see if you can understand any of it?"

"Exactly." Loor looked to Keira. "Do you know where I could find one?"

"I think the Baron has uncovered a few of them with his digging operations. But listen, you don't have much experience with this sort of thing. _I_ do. I got a few connections; and even if the thing _is_ scrap metal there might be a few working components for me to play with. I'll get someone to dig the thing up and bring it here, and we can take a look at it together."

"You'd do that?" Loor asked, surprised.

"Why not?" Keira offered a small smile. "You haven't told me what you're doing... which means it must be very illegal, or very personal to you. I'm either sticking it to the Baron or helping you where no one else can. I'm happy either way."

"You just made my awesome list."

"Don't make me regret it." Keira waved her off. "If you're going to watch the races, I'd suggest getting seats while there's still space. It's a great event, but it sucks in the nose-bleed section."

Loor nodded with a smile, trotting for the door.

_Bloody precursor junk... I may just have a way home yet. _

* * *

**The Author's Corner**

I like Keira a lot more in this version of the story. Before she was just kinda... there. Now she's an active character!

Though that's going to make things interesting later on...

BUT I'm super looking forward to the next chapter.

OOOOH RYAN!

Keh.

-Loor


	36. Shreds of Hope

**CLEANED UP**

HOLY HELL! WE'VE OVERCOME THE ORIGINAL LENGTH OF THE STORY!

**Vets who have just joined us because you got an e-mail alert, go back to the first chapter!** Explanations are there.

For the rest of us... ONWARD!

**Clean up notes for this chapter: **We've met Ryan, I'm liking Keira, and the class three races are over with. AWESOME.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Jak and Daxter, but I love this fic. **

**Vacation Or War  
****Chapter Thirty Six- Shreds of Hope**

Loor was happy she'd gone to find a seat early for various reasons; when she'd realized the races were today she also realized that Jak and Daxter would be on their way to the stadium to see Keira right before the event started. She didn't want to get caught by them, a second time, talking to the person they were about to discover was their missing friend. Not that she was doing anything wrong, but she was trying to throw them less curve balls so they would question her less.

She couldn't answer, but didn't want to lie.

Not to Jak.

Either way, the familiar smells got stronger as she got into the stadium and down to the seats. It didn't matter if they were racing zoomers instead of cars; grease and pavement always had the same scent, and it made her think rather wishfully of home. The only way it could have gotten better was if she had a blanket to curl up with; she'd been going to race tracks since she was a baby, her parents both into the scene before they had kids. As a infant she was known to fall asleep to the roar of the engines; a habit she kept to present day if given half a chance and a pillow.

So she made her way down the stands, though the rows at the finish line had already filled up with timing and scoring people, along with betters and enthusiasts. Instead of trying to worm her way in she moved up the course a bit until she was able to find a seat along the guard rail, wanting to be as close as she could. The seats were hardly better than benches, but that was completely understandable with how they tried to fit the whole city in at these events. She was glad she wore light clothes.

"Hey, it's you!"

Loor was disturbed by a loud and joyous voice behind her, jumping and turning slightly to see she was being stared at by someone.

A very tall someone. But tall was the least of her problems; the guy was platinum blond with tanned skin, dark tattoos sticking out over the healthy bronze tone. That was about all she registered, because the fact that this person recognized her and had tattoos meant only one thing.

She'd been recognized by a KG; and she was about to be busted. The fact that he announced that he knew who she was like he was greeting an old friend didn't matter; it was probably just a tactic to put her off balance. Unsure of what to do, she just looked forward, gripping the guard rail in front of her and clenching her jaw.

In moments the guy had made his way down to her spot, grabbing one shoulder and leaning over the other one to smile at her. He looked like an excited puppy, but she wouldn't be fooled. Anyone with KG tattoos was guilty of wanting her dead until proven innocent. Even Torn, seeing as the guy was keeping her in the underground despite her massive under-qualifications.

"I can't believe it, you're not dead!" The KG sounded like he was talking to an old war-buddy, not a potential prisoner. She was still tense though, and it got worse as the tall guy pulled her into a hug. He must have off-duty, not wearing armor, but that didn't change his status.

He'd grabbed both of her shoulders now, holding her at arm's length and looking down at her with a huge grin. "Oh my gosh, you poor thing..." He seemed to only now get that she was terrified of him. "I'm sorry honey, you probably don't remember me... what with being unconscious and all..."

"Are you going to kill me?" She questioned, now hugging herself. "Cause you can just do away with the friendly act and do that. I've already wet myself."

"_Kill you?" _He shook his head vigorously. "Goodness no! I should explain... but we should also move down a few more seats."

"Uh... why?" Loor was growing more confused by the second. There was a KG that was overjoyed to see her that she didn't know, but apparently knew her, who didn't want to kill her. She felt like moving down half the stadium to get away from the dude.

The guy glanced over his shoulder, back at the betting pool gathered around pit row. "You can't see him right now... but Errol likes to sit right by the guy who does timing and scoring when he's not racing, to make sure the bets go his way. He's been looking all over for you... orders are to only report if we see you; he wants to bring you in personally... you must have really made him mad." He let go of her shoulders so she could turn and walk. "C'mon, we'll just move down to be safe."

"Why are you helping me?" She questioned over her shoulder, walking anyway, though she still suspected some kind of trap. "You're a... you're one of them."

"Drafted, too many years ago." he walked right behind her, possibly to block her from view. "I'm helping you because I was there when you landed, and I want to know more. Is it true, about your sister? Fury, that's what she told us her name was. And you're Loor. I... we heard she was dead."

"How did you know Fury?" Loor nearly tripped over her own feet, struggling to walk and look back over her shoulder at the same time. "And what do you mean, when I landed?"

"Landed, appeared... I don't care; I was on night watch, I walked down a hall that was empty one moment, and you were there the next. Quite the event, drove all the equipment on that floor nuts."

She stopped suddenly, turning to face him. "You were there?" She demanded, staring up at him.

"Yeah."

She shook her head. "Who the hell are you? Explain everything to me."

"Oh my gosh, what am I thinking? I didn't even tell you my name!" The guy glanced over his shoulder again, nodding, satisfied that they were far enough away from Errol not to be noticed. "I'm Ryan. I took care of DWP subjects in the IV branch physically, keeping their bodies healthy and checking for mutations to structure."

"So..." She sat down, calming a little bit. "You took care of me while I was in the fortress. And my sister, once she entered the program."

"Mmmhm!" He sat next to her, and though his lips still smiled his eyes were concerned. "So... is it true? Is Fury dead?"

Lauren nodded slightly, looking down. "Yeah."

"At least they're together again..." Ryan muttered.

"Hm?"

"Artimus was a friend of mine, another guard. He... he tried to get her out. He did the same work as I did, taking care of Fury the way I took care of you, but she and he got to spend some time together before she was put into the program, doing all these tests... They got awful sweet on each other... when he tried to get her out, something happened to her. She... _changed._"

"And she killed him."

There was a moment of silence for the deceased.

"Where the hell did you two come from? No one knew... I was right there when you appeared out of nowhere. Fury talked non-sense, about a whole 'nother world, and games, and how you were making a device to mess with energy. It didn't make any sense... I figured she hit her head and knocked a few screws loose."

"We had an accident." Loor went right back to the lie she'd been telling everyone. "Teleporter technology gone wrong... I'd been trying to improvise the device with some precursor parts, and something went really sour. I'm still trying to figure out exactly what happened..."

Loor paused, thinking about Fury again. She hadn't listen to the girl when she tried to talk about her time in the fortress. She regretted it now, shutting her sister up, trying to figure out everything on her own.

"They didn't torture her... did they?" She asked, biting her lip. "Errol never... got ahold of her, did he?"

"No, never! Artimus wouldn't let him." Ryan's voice was full of admiration. "He'd head Errol off every time, even though he was horrified of the man... he wouldn't let Errol take advantage of her."

Loor nodded, that tiny nugget of information bringing her some solace.

"Oh, right!" Ryan suddenly perked up. "I don't know what you were doing, but we found a funny little device when you showed up. Kinda like a ball in a circuit board with some tubing..."

She blinked, looking at him. "Really? Did anyone keep it?"

"I did. The higher ups never tell us anything, so I kept it to try and figure it out myself!"

"You didn't damage it... did you?" She asked, feeling some of the hope she'd been building since meeting up with Keira slipping away.

"Oh god no! I just kinda stare at it a lot... I've never been a mechanic."

She couldn't believe it; the VC-M1 had traveled with her. The original device. For all she knew, it would have some evidence of exactly what happened, and how to reverse it. "Could I somehow... get it back?"

"Sure, do you know an old scientist named Vin?" Ryan was smiling again; it seemed to be his default expression. "I can get it delivered to him quietly."

"Perfect, I've done some work with him." She let a sigh go, leaning back and rubbing her head. She still had a chance! She would be able to examine the original device, and maybe figure out something with Keira.

She was just about to let her mind relax when a computerized voice many times amplified spooked her again.

"_Attention citizens; the class three races are about to begin." _

It seemed only a moment after that the stadium flooded. All the people who had been milling about outside rushed in, finding seats and screaming support as racers came onto the grid. Moments before Loor could have walked most of the stadium along the rail, and now she was boxed in between Ryan and the rest of the world, the noise going between deafening and dull roar.

She grinned and leaned forward over the guard rail to watch; it felt like it had been ages since she'd been able to enjoy a race as a spectator. In truth it had been about a month since the last race she'd attended, but it didn't matter. She was excited all the same.

Though some of that excitement was ruined by the fact that she knew who was going to win. It was pretty fast compared to what she was used to, but a lot of the sounds and smells were familiar enough that she was grinning by the end like a little kid in a candy shop. Who was going deaf.

And, just as quickly as the stadium had filled for the event, it would empty. Jak was in the lead by a mile, ending the race without a doubt to who was the winner. Once all was decided and the trophy handed over, people were sucked to the exit like a drainpipe.

"Vin should have your little doohickey by tomorrow." Ryan said as the roar died down a bit, still having to raise his voice over the excessive chatter. "You stay safe, okay? Fury was a good girl, and she talked about you all the time. You must be a good person too."

"I'll do my best." Loor was looking up to enter the crowd and blend in. If there were more KG around, she had to assume they would not be as friendly as the one she was currently speaking to.

Of course, being so distracted left her wide open to get surprised again as Ryan swept her up into another bone-breaking hug. At least it didn't scare her so bad this time; she actually kinda liked this guy. He was a tad on the friendly side, which made him seem creepy, but he also seemed to have positive intentions for her.

As long as he wasn't trying to capture or kill her, it was cool.

"I think I'll tell Errol I saw you... in the nosebleed sections on the other side. That should give you a good head start." He giggled while putting letting her go and giving her a push into the crush towards the exits. "Take it easy hon!"

She didn't have a chance to yell back before she was swept up in the flow of people, working to just stay on her feet and keep moving forward without getting trampled. Despite the constant movement, she was all the way down by the railing and the exit was up at the top, making it slow going and a long time before she even saw a hint of the outside. Not that she was complaining; the delay here was likely to put her behind the boys. Jak and Daxter would have taken that trophy straight to Keira, and then Ashelin would stop by and piss Keira off... and Loor was in no rush to end up in the middle of that scene.

So she didn't push or shove, getting outside in her own time and making a trip down the steps. She stopped at the bottom, pulling out her comm. and checking to see where the guys were; were they still talking to Keira, or would she have to catch up with them?

"Well, well, well, look who's already walking!"

Well, that answered that question. She put her comm. unit away again, turning to smile at Daxter.

"I wouldn't miss racing for the world! You guys did great!" She batted back. "Why didn't you guys wake me this morning?"

"Figured you needed the sleep." Jak answered, coming down the last few stairs to smirk at her. "Seeing as you're not a professional like we are, you deserved a break."

She rolled her eyes. "Right. Well break-time is over. Let's move this shit along, eh?"

"Jeez, you're eager..." Daxter snickered. "Get an attitude adjustment from yesterday?"

"You could say that." She snickered.

"See, Jak! I told you booze is an important part of adventuring! We get her a little drunk and suddenly she's happy as can be- YEOUCH!"

"My getting a little tipsy had _nothing_ to do with my being happy this morning." Loor giggled while withdrawing the hand she'd used to yank Daxter's tail, trying to wear an innocent smile. "Just had a little talk with a few friends and got a few new ideas for what I need to be doing."

"Are you gonna bail on us?" Jak asked while starting to walk. It was more than asking if she was going to back out on missions; he was wondering if she'd finally found a way out of Haven and back to where she'd come from.

"Not just yet..." She shrugged, crossing her arms and falling in line. "I kinda wanna stick around till its all over... but I don't wanna get in the way."

"Don't worry about it." Daxter advised. "Stick with us, and it'll all come out alright!"

She shook her head with a rueful chuckle, Daxter's words spoiling her mood a little bit.

It was sticking with them that could make everything come out terribly.

* * *

**The Author's Corner**

Oh. My. God.

We made it. We actually made it. Chapter thirty six.

VICTORY PARTY! MEOW!

-Loor


	37. Ambush

**CLEANED UP**

**Clean up notes for this chapter: **Hokay so there was a mission here that I honestly hated writing because it was full of game mechanics that were tough to work into fiction... so I worked around it. It's funny because that work-around looked like it was going to pose more of a problem then the original thing I didn't wanna write... and it turned into a huge opportunity.

WARNING TO VETS! A big change happened here, but I feel it's for the better. Meow.

**Disclaimer: I don't own Jak and Daxter. **

**Vacation Or War  
****Chapter Thirty Seven- Ambush**

"Mar's seal, huh?" Loor asked, following Jak and Daxter as they explained what they'd done that morning after letting her sleep in till noon. She hadn't realized she'd stayed in bed that long, but it would seem she didn't miss out on _too_ much. The trouble twins had gone and seen Onin, finding out about Mar's Tomb and why the Baron was so desperately looking for it.

They'd already retrieved one of the three pieces of the seal that would open the way into the canyon back in Haven Forest, which would in turn let them get at some of Mar's old machines, made to pin-point the location of the tomb. Now she was following them as they were en-rout to a second piece.

"Yeah. Apparently there's this thing called the Precursor Stone in the tomb that's got enough power to do just about anything." Daxter nodded. "The Baron is after it, so it's a good idea to swoop in and nab it first, right?"

"We gotta find it first." Jak muttered, shaking his head. "Brutter gave us a call just before the race; he's got something he thinks we might be interested in... something about shiny things... It may be coincidence, but if the guy wants to pay us back for rescuing lurkers and turns out to hand us something we need, I'm not going to argue."

She nodded, trotting to keep up with the guys; Jak was walking rather briskly. "Something up?" She asked, their path taking them through the stadium section and back to the slums. They were picking up the seal piece from Brutter's home in the flooded section of the city. Loor knew they were also marching towards an ambush, but for some reason she wasn't too terribly worried. The name of the game would be running, not fighting... which was good, because she doubted her ability to attack her fellow man.

But her ability to run from her fellow man? That was doing better than ever.

Jak shrugged. "I feel like things are going to start speeding up... like everything before this was just a warm-up, and now we're headed for the main event. Even _if_ we find the tomb first... just this feeling I got that it's not going to go well."

"You're being paranoid, buddy." Daxter said, relaxing by leaning on Jak's head. "Take it one day at a time, would ya?"

"Like you do, Dax?" Loor snickered. "Wining and womanizing with every loose second?"

"Hey, at least not a second goes to waste! It's what you gotta do, toots. You never get those seconds back, you know."

"I think the ottsel might have just said something zen..." She shook her head. "Jak, is he allowed to do that?"

"Don't look at me. Dax is kinda his own little furball... It's not like I put him on a leash and walk him like a dog."

"Some chicks dig that though..." Daxter mused for a moment before shaking his head. "Ah, yeah, no, not my thing."

The three had passed through the slums, entering the flooded section and picking their way through the tangle of bridges. Lauren was making an effort to remember which ones they took so their run back out of this place would be easier. She wondered just how the Baron knew that Jak would be here; had he bugged random communications and they happened to pick up Brutter's signal? Or was it that they thought it was some sort of black market thing, people trading under the Baron's nose?

It didn't really matter though. Reasons _why_ were out of her reach, about to be swept up into the event. They were coming to the end of the bridges, walking up to a simple yet dilapidated house. It was built on stilts to stay out of the water, just like everything else in the area.

Oddly enough, Brutter was not actually there. His hut was shut up tight, and the seal piece, looking like part of a yin-yang symbol, was hung up on his door.

Oh. _That's_ why the cavalry rolled out; the Baron's people saw it and organized a sting for whoever came to get it. Proof that Brutter wasn't the brightest bulb in the box.

As Jak was taking the shining item off of the door, Loor noticed something. It was quiet, and not in the relative sense. This section of the city had gone dead silent, and she wasn't sure why... until she glanced up. No traffic; no zoomers in the air space. There weren't any people on the bridges either; just them.

'Sitting ducks' is the term that came to her mind.

"That was easy..." Daxter commented. "Two pieces down! Just one left."

Jak noticed Loor staring into the air space, and in the general silence heard a sound that was similar to a zoomer... just a lot bigger.

KG carriers were coming in fast. There had to be a dozen of them, each stopping at a different point to drop their cargo of men. Each red vehicle dropped at least twenty men, though no one was doing a serious count. It was more of a quick glance to decide what the best course of action was.

The Baron had deployed a small army to corner and kill them.

"I think you spoke too soon, Dax." Loor muttered, staring. She hadn't expected such a mass, and not all at once. She was backing up, not sure of how to handle this. Her original thoughts of charging right through wouldn't work; this was a wall, no, a _sea_ of red armor and guns...

And people. She couldn't forget that.

Jak pushed forward, gun in hand, switching over to the vulcan barrel and opening fire. He didn't even think about it; he understood the simple facts of the situation. People were going to die here. It was all about _which_ people died.

"Stay behind me." Jak ordered after mowing down the closest group of guards. He was switching weapons, changing the vulcan barrel out for the blaster mod. The other groups of guards would come closer to take better aim; his strategy was to pick them off first... and he understood that she was essentially useless at the moment.

Being protected would usually upset her, but she was too busy staring at the bodies that hadn't fallen off of the edges of the narrow walk-ways, red armor cracked by bullets and the owners falling. She was momentarily disembodied, a specter upon the event, silently looking on as Jak started firing again. Senses came in sharp focus, but then faded into a disengaged memory. The yellow eco slugs had a stunk similar to sulfur, mixing in with the copper reek of blood, salty fear on the back of her tongue, icy realization falling down the back of her neck in beads of nervous sweat.

The moment seemed to pause. For her, it all stopped.

Up till that point, it had been something she was watching. A game. A show, even. She understood that she could ruin everything, of course, understood that people would die if she didn't make sure that history went unaltered... but people were dying now. She'd never realized it before, but Jak was a killer. Self defense, indeed, but he'd taken intelligent life. _Human_ life. He faced it with a cold expression, unfeeling towards those in his way.

She wanted to escape from this nightmare. The whole experience had been surreal. She'd assured herself that she wasn't a big deal; just along for the ride. A quiet by-stander, not to be noticed, not to effect anything. She wanted to be invisible.

But that wasn't possible. They were after her just as much as they were after Jak. Maybe she wasn't a hero, or the person who would open up Mar's Tomb, find the precursor stone, or the one who was gonna save the city, but right now she had a choice.

She had to decide if she was just window dressing, un-willing to commit to her fate... or if she was gonna help. Metal heads were one thing, but she had to take on all that posed a danger.

The ice began to break. The moment was passing, time speeding up again. Jak was firing off quickly, shots hitting home and knocking guards either into the water or felling them on growing piles of flesh and armor. Fire was returning, though the shots were wild and poorly placed.

She blinked an overwhelmed tear away, gritting her teeth and drawing her pistol, taking a knee to steady herself. She knew she'd never be able to convince herself to fire at her fellow man, but her body had already taken care of that for her.

She was detached; memory and thought processes had long disengaged. There was no complicated over-thinking now.

She'd given in, submitted to the understanding.

_It's either us or them._

All she remembered was the feel of her heart. It beat loudly, over the noise as bullets flew from both sides. It made her hands shake at first, but they steadied by the time she had to switch out the clip for another one in her pouch. It was like a drum, pulsing, keeping her from realizing how easy it was to do what she was doing.

It was a beat. A tempo to which this dance was preformed. Shooting was given a break to run onto ground they'd gained, seeking a more advantageous position. Then it was her and her gun, following Jak's lead.

Replace the clip. Fire.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Dare to blink.

Five.

Six.

Seven.

Eight.

Remember to breathe.

Nine.

Ten.

Eleven.

Twelve.

Change the cli-

_Run! _

He'd moved, and she kicked to follow, the tempo speeding up. Her feet wanted to fall with the beat, but weren't fast enough.

And they weren't stopping. He'd readied his gun as a bludgeoning weapon.

She switched from the pistol in her hand, her tool, to dance to a different beat. He was there first, plowing through, and she was right behind.

She had her juice-rod in hand, the ends sparking with dangerous energy from the blue eco crystal inside. Maybe she yelled when she used the weapon to throw the red wall aside, but she hadn't a clue. She was sprinting, trying to keep up with the beat.

_Faster! _

The pulse was in her neck, felt in her hands, bursting from her chest. How much longer?

The water was gone; they'd made it past the bridges, but the guns still fired after them. She still followed where Jak led.

He'd found a zoomer as her brain began to come back, panting and breaking free of that pressing beat. She didn't even ask, stashing her weapon and jumping on behind him, trusting that he'd get them away.

Jak took a long and confusing route through the slums, eventually turning into the industrial section and then the ramp over the Bazaar, using the traffic to discourage pursuit. Then around the palace, circling back into south town and ending in the port, dropping into the lower zone and stopping to breathe.

They'd survived. The Baron had dropped an army on their heads in a dead-end, and they'd survived. Jak was actually quite surprised that Loor had started shooting. Though her accuracy had been questionable, she had made the effort despite the discomfort he knew she had about attacking people. She hadn't made a deal about her independence, or even tried to take the lead.

And good thing too; that was one trick he never wanted to pull twice. The reason he'd started running was because he'd run out of ammo for the blaster and didn't have the seconds to waste switching to something else.

It was just now that he realized Loor was still holding on to him. She'd taken a grip around his middle when she jumped on the back of the zoomer, and was yet to ease off, even a little bit. Daxter was just starting to calm out of battle mode too, and looked back at the girl. She was hiding against Jak's back, her hair thrown over her face and her shoulders up and tense.

"Hey, Loor, babe." Dax tried to call her back to earth. "It's cool. We made it."

"I... uh..." She was still breathing too hard. "Can we never do that again... please?"

"We'll try." Jak tried to turn, but found himself rather rooted to the spot as long as she refused to let go of him.

He also realized he felt something damp through his shirt.

She was crying.

"What now, partner?" Daxter asked, returning to the proper shoulder. "Report back to Onin and see if she's got any hints on the last piece we're missing?"

"Sounds like the right idea... Loor, you gonna survive back there?"

There was a long pause before the boys got any response from her. She just clung to Jak, but eventually her grip loosened. She didn't let go, but she stopped crushing his ribs. "I... I'd like to go back. You guys do what you gotta... but I think my day just got it's fill of action."

"Your day?" Daxter snickered. "Try my week!"

"It's cool." Jak assured, accelerating back into normal traffic, switching into the upper zone. "Just take it easy."

Lauren nodded, not saying a word on the whole way back.

* * *

**The Author's Corner**

I love my fiancee. I mean here in the real world. He may not be the most charismatic guy on the planet, but I got the idea that completed this chapter while talking to him so HA! I get annoyed sometimes because I can blab on for hours and he won't say a word, but that also makes him sorta a trampoline for bouncing ideas.

When I can get up the nerve to talk to him about my stories. Original or fan fiction, I'm always worried he'll decide I'm creepy or laugh at me...

MEOW!

Happy reading,

-Loor


	38. Decisions

**CLEANED UP**

**Clean up notes for this chapter: **A slight re-arrangement... I pushed a major scene off to later in the story; I felt putting it in where it originally was would be rushing the romance plot, and I'd rather take my time. Meow.

**Disclaimer: I don't own Jak and Daxter. **

**Vacation Or War  
****Chapter Thirty Eight- Decisions**

Torn hadn't been present at the underground when Jak dropped Loor off, and that was just as well with her. She didn't even want to try to explain to him why she wasn't currently fit for duty... she was still having trouble explaining it to herself.

She felt as if she'd destroyed part of herself for the sake of survival. Memories were fuzzy, and if asked she couldn't even guess as to how many shots she fired or how many actually hit. Still, she didn't need to have the images in her head, didn't need the memory, to know what she'd done.

She had taken human life. It was an act she didn't think herself capable of, and even now she felt as if she'd go mad for it. Emotions were coursing through her that left her helpless and confused, shocked and lost. She didn't so much walk into the underground as she did drift, first sitting on her bunk and then finding herself back in that corner, curled up around her pillow.

She hated this feeling. She wanted to shut it out, but it was far too overwhelming. At first she feared, but her usual reflexes took over.

Unable to dismiss it, she turned to rage. Angry energy grew in her as she refused to feel sad or guilty. It wasn't her fault; she _had_ to do what she'd done. There was hope of her getting home still; if she wanted to survive she had to defend herself. That was all she was doing. And she didn't even remember most of it. What did it matter?

Why should she feel guilt over such lives? Why feel anything?

Logically, she had done what was needed to continue on. Nothing more. It didn't _need_ to be an emotional experience. Like shoving Lyra out of her awareness, she did the same with her emotions. There was no need to cry, to curl up like a _child. _She was denied such comforts now, and it was about time to get used to it.

If she didn't, she would be overwhelmed. There was no other way.

By the time she'd decided such, she had left her bunk and been pacing up and down the space between the bunks. She was thankful for the time to think, considering her options once more, and the current progress of events. Jak and Daxter would soon have the whole seal, which meant they'd either be finding the tomb tonight or the next morning. She guessed the next morning; Torn hadn't been in contact with them since that morning, and he would betray the underground when the tomb was found.

Torn will oust them all to save Ashelin's ass. Loor, of course, was left with a choice. Would she be with them when they opened the tomb and get captured with the others, or find some excuse to get away? The first option was not a pleasant one, but she didn't want to lie to the boys... they'd get suspicious again. Jak knew not to ask questions, but Daxter's prying still worried her. There was only so long before she'd get angry or annoyed and break.

She then realized the perfect opportunity was already in her lap; Ryan. He was going to have her device delivered to Vin; she could easily excuse herself at any time to go pick it up... she just had to make sure Torn didn't know where she'd vanished off to. She'd take the VC-M1 to Keira so the two of them could look at it when that hunk of precursor junk showed up.

With those two devices in her hands, she had a chance of figuring out exactly what happened. Perhaps even how to get things to work in reverse. The only wild card was Onin, who still hadn't contacted her since their first meeting. The old woman had seemed to think she'd be able to help, but Loor didn't have enough understanding of what the crone was actually capable of to count on her.

She stopped pacing with a smile. Despite everything, things were actually looking up for once.

She yelped as her comm. unit went off, feeling the buzz against her hip. Thanking goodness there was no one in the underground to see that, she pulled the little device and found that the trouble twins were calling her.

"Hey." She greeted while answering, the video feed showing Daxter's fuzzy mug. "You two find that last piece?"

"_Yeah!" _Daxter was grinning. _"Onin told us where to take it, but Jakkie-boy wants to hold off till tomorrow morning. Figures something big is gonna happen, and wants to give Torn the heads-up before we go charging ahead. I say we go now and who cares what the tattooed wonder says, but hey, as long as I'm getting free rides everywhere I can't complain." _

"Right." Loor resisted on making a crack on how Dax _always_ complained. "So what are you guys doing now?"

"_Visiting back at the Hip Hog. Jak didn't want me to bother you, but I say it's rude not to invite a lady!" _

Though he was off of the screen, Loor heard Jak's voice.

"_Only if she's feeling up to it." _

"I'm fine." She giggled. "I'll be right down."

* * *

"Loor!"

Tess was the first to greet Loor as she arrived at the Hip Hog, since she was the only one in the place that faced the door. The ebony haired girl actually gave pause as she came in the door, shocked to find other people populating the place. Jak and Daxter had still taken the popular place at the bar, Sig with them as well. Still, it made the place generally noisy with chatter.

Speaking of Jak and Daxter, both looked at her at once. There were welcoming smiles, but also concern. She hadn't been in good shape when she left them.

As if to set them at ease, she practically flounced up to the bar. Daxter had been standing on one of the stools to save it for her, hopping up to the counter and letting her sit. "This place is crowded." She commented.

"Just the usual evening crowd." Tess assured, leaning on the counter and petting Daxter. "Though Krew is usually around at this time... He's been vanishing a lot lately, and I'm still not sure how he gets out of here."

"Any idea where he's disappearing to?" Loor asked.

"Not really, and of course he doesn't tell _me_. I'm just a barmaid. It's really strange though; he does most of his business here, making people come to him."

"What are you guys doing, talking biz?" Daxter asked, frowning. "C'mon, Loor. You got that look on your face again; you've been thinking too much!"

"Yes, but for once my thoughts aren't upsetting me. Isn't that positive?" Loor snickered at the ottsel.

"I'd say drinks all around, but Jak decided he's gonna be a party pooper." Daxter huffed, looking up at Tess. "I can't believe the people I work with. I really can't."

"Actually... it makes sense." Loor pointed out. "I mean... you boys are going to do something big tomorrow. Best condition possible would be favorable, no? No good to get drunk beforehand and end up hungover the next day."

"No good to go in all tense, either!" Dax crossed his fuzzy arms over his chest. "Lemme guess, you're gonna stay sober too!"

She snickered. "Sorry to break it to ya, Dax. If all goes as planned, I got a big day tomorrow too, and I need this noggin firing on all cylinders."

The ottsel eventually pouted. "You all suck."

"Take it easy, chilli pepper." Sig had been watching the exchange till now, chuckling at Daxter's sulky posture. "I'll share a bottle with you." The big wastelander then turned his gaze upon Loor. "Heard you had a rough day, cherry. Wanna talk about it?"

"Not really..." She stretched her arms up over her head. "The experience was... well, I won't call it positive, but constructive to say the least. Honestly, this isn't my scene... but while I'm down here I think I'll skip over to the gun course and get a little practice in."

"You know how to set it up?" Sig asked.

"I'll show her." Jak volunteered, getting up.

"You sure?" Loor asked while standing up as well. "I don't wanna drag you away..."

"I could use a round of practice too." He snickered at her, motioning with his head. "C'mon."

She didn't argue any more, walking in front of him and leading the way out of the bar and back onto the street.

"Never thought I'd see you _wanting _to go to the gun course." Jak noted as they turned to walk along said street.

She shrugged, hooking her thumbs on her belt. "Call it... a reality check. I knew it was serious before... I understood that much in my mind. Now... It's more than understanding it. It's committing to it."

"You make it sound like you don't have a choice."

"No... I know I do. But I decided to stick with you guys." She shrugged slightly. "In that decision, I had to learn."

They'd arrived at the gun course, she drawing out her pistol and checking the ammunition. "You wanna go first?" She asked without looking up, listening to the door close. "You can show me the controls, and then you can do your session and go back to the others."

"I'm in no hurry."

Her head popped up as she felt his hands on her shoulders. It left her blinking, aware of him being close to her, his head leaned next to hers. "Are you sure you're okay?" He asked. "I... can't put myself in your shoes. Escaping prison... killing the guards in my way was an act of rage. After that... I just kinda go dead while I'm working. It never disturbed me that badly. I forgot what it was like... forgot it wasn't so easy."

She stood for a moment before leaning back on him, hefting a long sigh. "It's a fucked up place to be. But like I told Sig... it's going to help me in the future. I don't like it... the thought was too disturbing to deal with... so I just shoved it off. I... I figure I'll get used to it."

"You don't have to."

She was a little shocked by how quickly he said that; like he was trying to protect her. And maybe he was. He'd forgotten in his years within the fortress what it was like to be innocent, where the biggest deal from day to day was where to go play and what to snack on between meals. Maybe he'd just realized that was where she was coming from... and didn't want her to sacrifice that just to stick with him.

"You're the one who wanted me to stick with you and Dax." She pointed out. "You saying I'm not as good of a partner as you thought?"

"You're fine... you're learning quickly, getting better with every mission... but-"

"Jak." She cut him off, turning her head to look at him. "Don't worry. That's my job."

"You still got a shot at getting back to where you came from... it's not going to be the same if you're a different person when you get there."

She wasn't sure what to say at that, still standing there with her pistol in hand, enjoying how close he was to her. She wanted to tell him off on various levels, how that 'shot at getting home' was more like half a shot, and how she was still trying to decide if going home was even worth it... or how different she looked from the person she was when she left. She was older now, and she felt as if her brain had caught up with her body that day.

But she couldn't say any of that. Not without sparking his curiosity, only to have to shut him down on the very next turn of conversation.

"I like being with you." He said as she stood in silence. "I just..."

"It's already too late." She shrugged his hands off, putting her gun away while facing him head on. "Saving the kid in me... she's already dead. And that's not your fault. You didn't _drag_ me out there. I could have stopped anywhere, and you would have let me. Now is not the time to... try and salvage the past."

"You knew, didn't you?" He asked. "What we were heading for... why didn't you bail on us?"

"I thought I would only need to run, not fight. I was careless... but I learned a lesson besides 'don't get cocky.' Just because I know where this train is going... don't mean I get to sit back and watch. I'm either in or out. And I decided to be in." She then broke from her serious tone, flashing him a smile. "Anyway... you think I'm going to give up watching you in action to go hide in a safe-house somewhere? I don't think so."

He blinked at her a few times, and then smirked. "I'll take the gun course first, and we'll see if you can get anywhere close to my score."

"And if I can't?" She asked with a sly smile as he turned to go to the manual controls, following him to see how it worked.

"See if I can't give you a few tips and make you do it again."

"Uh-huh..." She felt like grousing. Sure, she wanted to run through once or twice just to say she was working on it, but she still doubted her ability to compete with him in this field. "And if I don't want to?"

"You agreed to let me teach you until you can beat me in hand-to-hand. It's either run the course or try and pin me down again." He was looking over his shoulder at her, taking on a rather playful expression. "Could offer you a few tips in that area too."

She growled, but decided to let it go for the moment.

As she had said herself; she'd decided to be in this. She needed to get good at it now.

* * *

**The Author's Corner**

NEW CHAPTER! YARG!

Kehehehe... Oh the evil plans that are to come in the future...

BUT I'M NOT TELLING!

-Loor


	39. Helper

**CLEANED UP**

**Clean up notes for this chapter: **Well here's another fairly new one, content-wise. Great fun though. Again I have to thank my boyfriend for the idea! MEOW!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Jak and Daxter. **

**Vacation Or War  
****Chapter Thirty Nine- Helper**

"Is that it? C'mon!"

Loor bellowed while leaping at Jak, having gotten sick of the shooting range after Jak made her run the gauntlet three times. They'd broken most of the crates in the place, looking for ammo, and granted her scores were getting better... but not good enough for him to let her quit. Eventually the girl decided she'd rather eat concrete trying to beat his wrestling challenge than go through the course one more time. Again they'd both taken their boots off to got at it.

And again she was laying on the ground, he having grabbed her and whipped her around when she ran at him.

This was not the first time tonight that she was staring up at him from the flat of your back.

"You're too light to throw your weight around." He snickered, looking down at her. "It's too easy to take the momentum and toss you."

She growled at him, tempted to pout. Her siblings never threw her around... mainly because none of them ever engaged in hand-to-hand combat with wild animals in life or death situations, as Jak had. They were used to grappling on the ground, usually over the silliest things.

He crouched over her, wearing the smug smirk he'd been since she decided to try and take him on again. "Ready to give the gun course another shot?"

"You're kidding, right?" She grumbled, not making a move to get up just yet. She was going to be black and blue all over the next day, and her muscles were telling her all about it right now.

He shrugged. "You're the one that wanted to come down here." He reminded.

She rolled her eyes while nodding, having been studying him from the ground. On her back she was reminded of how she stretched at home; from her current position she could think of three things she could do to throw him, and was trying to decide what would be most effective, and if her sore back muscles would be able to pull it off fast enough.

With a short exclamation of exertion she reached up for the red scarf he wore around his neck, yanking down to put him off balance and lifting her lower body up off the stone floor, knees folding over her body and taking a hold of his head, now using her hands to push him up and her legs to fling him over her, letting go and getting up to her feet.

This time, he was on his back.

"Is that better?" She asked while crawling up slowly, making sure to stay far back enough that he couldn't do something similar to her.

He seemed to be shocked that she'd pulled a fast one on him, blinking at the ceiling. "Didn't know you were that flexible..."

"Well now you do... I didn't hurt your neck, did I? I've honestly never done something like that before..." She said this while noticing something. His goggles. As long as he was on the ground they were perfectly in her reach... and she was suddenly very tempted to steal them. She imagined that it would probably get her ass kicked, but she had this issue with head gear. When she was a little girl it was a game she and her siblings played with their mother; if she had a hat they would steal it and try to keep it away from her. Since then, if she took notice of a person's head gear for too long, she'd swipe it.

With full intention of giving it back, of course.

"I'm fine... just a little surprised." He snickered while starting to sit up...

To suddenly look over as he felt his goggles getting yanked from his head, blinking at her as she sat there with them, attempting to smile innocently.

"Those are mine."

"I realize that." Her attempt at innocent was breaking apart into a grin. "They were on your head."

She was bowled over by him a second later, dispensing with the questions and setting on getting them back from her. Still, he had now ended up where she was an expert; tussling over an object. Her sister may have been bigger than her, and her brother stronger, but she was tiny and good at wiggling away. If she could escape with candy and toys while set upon by both of her elder siblings, she figured she'd be able to wiggle away from one sexy hero.

And at first, she was right. He'd knocked her down, but she didn't care about that. The point was to keep the object in question away while getting free, just as his goal was to get it back from her. His hands were more focused on grabbing for his goggles, which she kept at full arm's length, while twisting in his grip and using a knee in the stomach as the proper leverage to break from him, rolling away and moving to get up again.

He was on her in another second, basically hopping on her back and yanking her down again. This time she was on her back, on top of him, holding the goggles up over her head as he locked one arm across her shoulders to try and shorten her grip.

And for a moment, it looked like he'd get them... till she lifted her legs up again, switching the goggles from her hand to hung on her foot, able to grab the leather strap with her toes. Since we all know one's leg is longer than their arm, she had it out of his reach again.

It was only now that she noticed she'd been giggling at him the whole time. Not unusual, but it took her a moment to realize she was having fun.

He twisted to the side, making her yelp while hitting the ground on her side. He was trying to drag her outstretched leg back with one of his own, but he didn't have the same flexibility and thus dexterity at length. For the moment it was a stalemate, but Loor was sure he'd soon figure out that she'd have to curl up if he rolled down unless she wanted to damage her hip, so she decided to gamble.

She pulled back and threw the goggles across the floor.

He was up and after them in a moment, and she was right behind. Once he had them back she was sure she wouldn't be able to capture them again, so it was whoever could get their balance and grab them up off the floor first.

Sadly, he'd been half-way up before he had to release her, giving him a head start. Didn't mean she gave up once he had his goggles back in hand, though. He was on his feet again, and when he saw her coming held the item they'd been tussling about over his head, using his height advantage to keep them out of her reach.

She noticed by now that he was smiling too, chuckling where she'd been laughing most of the way. He found it just as fun.

Finally, after stretching up as far as she could to try and nab them back, she sighed and settled for poking him in the stomach. "Alright, alright... you win, this time."

"Where the hell did _that_ come from?" He asked while pushing his hair back and putting the goggles back on. Without them his long blond-green hair became a total mess, getting in front of his face and obstructing his vision. "Don't tell me you're a thief where you come from."

"No, just something I learned as a kid... a game a played with my mom and my siblings. She'd have a hat, we'd take it."

"This is not a hat." He said with a lot of the same tone he'd said 'Those are mine' not very long ago.

"But it is headgear!" She giggled, turning back to the center of the room. They were too close to the wall to start another bout without fear of someone whacking their head on a wall. "It was just a bit of fun."

"You miss them?" He asked, following her lead.

"Of course I do, they're my family... They have no idea what's happened to me, either. I can't imagine how I'm going to explain everything, if and when I get back..." She sighed, hesitating from taking any sort of battle posture. "I wonder if it's even worth it."

The mention of what she'd left behind killed the happy buzz of the situation. He'd joined her in the middle of the room, but he took to holding her shoulders again, trying to provide some comfort.

"Why wouldn't it be?" He asked, gently.

"The changes... I've changed... Fury's dead... there's the whole deal with the dark eco... my mind is obsessed with the idea of home, the idea of safety and normalcy, but the truth is if I ever made it back... I'd never be able to explain to them what had happened, but they'd all know something was wrong. And Fury!" She shook her head, almost violently. "She..."

"She died for a good cause." He said, in an attempt to calm her. "Won't they understand that?"

"They can't even _know_ that." She growled. "You're not the only one I'm not allowed to say anything to... it's just you'll eventually find out all the things I know on your own. Them... even if I did tell them, they'd never believe me. I'd be locked up in some looney bin..."

"What do you mean...?" He started asking, but then stopped himself, shaking his head. Curiosity was going to kill him, but she was ripped up enough on the issue. "Nevermind. Just tell me what I can do to help."

"You?" She snickered, though ruefully. "Survive. Worry about yourself, and I'll have one less thing to break my brain over. This has been really good too... training me up, whether I liked it or not... You've already helped a lot." She managed to smile again. "Thanks."

He nodded, returning the smile.

Loor jerked away from him when the door to the street opened, going for her boots. Tess was in the doorway, carrying a very intoxicated Daxter, who whooped at seeing his two partners looking to be having a tender moment.

Obviously, it was time to go home.

* * *

_How stupid can I get? All this worry about making sure the **basic** events go right, and I forget the fact that Jak is hyper protective of his friends? What in the world was I doing?_

Loor had fallen into bed at the underground the moment she'd walked in, only sparing time to get some of her effects off. Though she didn't go straight to sleep she did enter a similar state, once again sinking into her own head to prowl the room that was her sanctuary. She was pacing, much as she had been in the underground earlier.

Of course, Lyra was present as well. The animal had been locked away from Loor's conscious mind, but here the beast was present and oddly calm for her situation.

Lengths of silk had bound the animal to the wall, the only bits free to move being her head and tail.

_**Oh? Having trouble without my help? **_

_Your **help** would have made a bad situation even worse!_ The girl snapped, rounding on her beast. _I never even realized how close I felt to him... One moment it was admiration, the next he was my friend, and then... _She actually opened her mouth to let out a frustrated yell, hands lacing up into her hair and pulling.

Lyra had begun to purr, her tail, though trapped between her legs, swinging back and forth while watching her host's torment. _**And you blame so much on my influence... but what's terrible about it? **_

_What's terrible about it? _Loor dared to stalk close to the animal, fists clenched. _I like him, fine, I'll admit that. He's funny, kinda quiet, has the occasional emo moment but he doesn't stay down there, yeah, he's great. Here's the problem; he's TAKEN. I can't think about stealing a kiss when he belongs to another girl. Let's take a step back from that, I'm not even supposed to be here! _

_**Hasn't he seen that girl again, according to your memories? As far as I knew it... things weren't going well. And she's been flirting with another party with no qualms. **_Lyra's laugh was a frightening and bestial noise. **_Ignore it all... have fun. _**

_Why should I listen to you? _The girl snarled, coming to the wall that she had trapped the animal and and grabbing her by the jaw. _I locked you away for a reason... you're too troublesome, gunking up my thoughts with unimportant shit._

_**Perhaps, but you came in here to rant and rave and carry on... clearly you wanted to talk to someone. Maybe you're getting lonely out there? **_

Loor had to stare at the animal, the contact between them letting Loor back into the feeling of duality. Again, she could feel Lyra's emotions, wants, and intentions. She was steeped in raw sexuality, creeping in Loor's memories and finding what she considered missed opportunities to have a little fun. Where Loor had been briefly daydreaming about stealing one kiss after thanking Jak for training her, Lyra had many more ideas concerning the boy.

And Loor was horrified as she found that she liked most of them.

_If you're trying to convince me to release you, you're going the wrong way about it. _Loor's tone and sunk to a dull mutter, swept up in beating down her own emotional reaction. She was trying to get herself under control, but in making contact with Lyra she'd let in a flood what she'd file away as 'goop.'

_**Oh, I wouldn't bother. **_The animal snickered, grinning around her fangs, that tail making its lazy path back and forth. **_You've made it quite clear I'm not welcome here... but I think I've made it equally clear I will not be trapped. But I've told you once; if I find a way to kill you and take control of this body... I will. Preferably I'll be able to run under the ruse of being you, and take all the pleasures with the world you refuse to. _**

_I only nailed you up there because you refused to listen to me. _Loor remembered the rage she'd felt for the animal, and felt it returning in spades. _Trust me, I'd like to kill you too... _

_**Maybe we need to get to know each other better... **_

_No, you need to understand you will not dominate me. I felt your claws before, how real that pain was here... don't make **me** rip **you** apart. I've learned how to manipulate this place... I could make my weapon in here, or a flay, or any other manner of sharp object. _

_**No need, mistress... **_Lyra hissed over the word 'mistress' making it come off in sarcasm. **_I think I've made my own point. _**

_And what point is that? _

_**How easy it is to provoke you.**_

The girl stopped dead in her rage, letting go and pulling back. She hadn't even realized; Lyra had been doing nothing but needling her... trying to get a reaction, and gaining one rather easily.

_**Rage is a simple one... but let's see if lust isn't out of my reach in the future, hmm? Right now I think I'll hold back... you're lacking too much in eco for me to want to throw myself around. In a few days you'll wear down enough to start feeling the fatigue again... Maybe you'll try to avoid it, but it really comes to the question of what you fear more; a slow and painful eco-related death, or me. **_

_I hate you. _

_**The feeling is mutual, I assure you. **_

* * *

**The Author's Corner**

My wrist... it suffers. XDD Oh well, we love it. Least, I do. ONWARD! I got a great idea for the next chapter.

See you next time punks,

-Loor


	40. Plans Gone Awry

**CLEANED UP**

**Clean up notes for this chapter: **Some changes, some fun, some chasing, some running... yeah, it's all good.

**Disclaimer: I don't own Jak and Daxter**

**Vacation or War  
****Chapter Forty- Plans Gone Awry**

Loor found herself being shaken awake at a time that felt far too early for her. Despite feeling a bit more on top of things the night before, she was still dog tired and ready to hibernate if given the chance. Still, she ignored that and rolled away from the corner she liked to curl up in so much to face whomever was nudging her shoulder.

Jak was couched next to her bunk, Daxter on his shoulder but dozing off.

"_Bis morgen..." _She greeted in German, smirking as Jak made a face at her for using a language besides English.

"We just told Torn what's going on." Jak said instead of telling her off for it. "Are you coming with?"

She blinked at the question, but her mind was coming around quickly. She shook her head no, sitting up. "I've gotta go and pick something up from Vin. Maybe I'll catch up with you guys later?"

"Sure." He nodded while getting up to go. "Keep out of trouble, eh?"

"You told me that last time." She whined, waving him off. "I'll get in trouble if I bloody well want."

He chuckled at her, turning to go as she leaned over the side of her bunk to get her things and figure out what she was going to do. As Jak left she noted Torn in the back of the room, looking a little more uptight than usual. Of course; perhaps Torn had already been contacted by the Baron, and the threat on Ashelin leveled.

Either way, she didn't want the tattooed wonder knowing where she was. While she clipped her boots on and got ready to move out, she slipped her comm. unit out of her pouch to leave on her bed, trying to make it look like she'd simply and carelessly forgotten it. The unit was able to track her, something she couldn't have at the moment.

She needed to avoid Errol at all costs. Once she'd dropped it she finished with her gear and stood up, moving for the door without a word.

"Hey!"

She stopped, looking back at the ex. KG commander with a raised eyebrow. He had moved from behind the table to approach her bunk and grab the item she was trying to so cleverly leave behind. "How the hell am I going to get you back here for anything if I can't contact you?" He asked, glaring, holding it out for her.

But there was more to that face than anger. Fear.

As he insisted on her taking her comm. unit, she realized exactly how he'd oust them all; he'd fork over each unit's number, giving the Baron the ability to track all of them... without finding the exact location of the underground.

Torn may not have been happy about betraying them all to protect Ashelin, but the hideout was one more risk he wasn't willing to take; he couldn't let Loor leave her unit there. Of course, now aware of that, she knew she couldn't keep it on her person. She'd have to get rid of it, and quickly... but far away from the underground. She'd need to ditch it somewhere far from the action and unimportant...

She took it from him with a fake smile. "Right. Movement's nothing without you leading the way, eh?"

He shot her a look that was nearly lethal as she turned on her heel and went for the door, literally whistling. She couldn't help handing him some guilt; it was something she'd always wanted to do when Torn betrayed everyone to save Ashelin's ass. If Ashelin was worth her salt, the girl should have been able to take care of herself and keep her activities secret from her father.

Either way, she had to turn her mind to where she was going to ditch her unit before it brought her any trouble. She couldn't just break it without calling attention from every corner of Haven thanks to the stupid distress signal it threw up upon getting damaged, so the only option was to dump it somewhere away from the underground and herself. She was headed into the industrial section to get her device from Vin, assuming he had it by now, which she'd then take to Keira for safe keeping and later examination.

She'd be able to dump her comm. unit in the port section. Hopefully water didn't count as 'damage,' and she'd go through the palace section and Bazaar to get to the stadium, with a short jaunt into the agricultural section.

By the time she'd decided on her plan she had already gotten a zoomer and was on her way to see Vin, turning her brain to worry about other things.

Once the boys were through with the tomb it would be time to confront Torn and then go rescue their friends... and in that she'd meet Samos. His elder version; the green eco sage. Though the man probably had as much to offer as Onin did in terms of getting her home, she was curious about something else.

Green eco was a healing energy, and Samos was _the_ authority on it. He knew how do get rid of dark eco contamination in plants... perhaps he'd be able to help her with at least living longer without dark eco than the few month's Onin predicted.

If she could extend that time to say... a few years? She'd have more time once she returned home to conduct research of her own. Obviously the eco she'd managed to manufacture had activated something in her time. If at all possible she would find whatever she'd woken up... and disable it. The VC-M1 _made_ eco for her. If she could create it without disturbing some all-might precursor machine, she'd be able to stay home and survive. Grow up. Live.

Then she'd just have to try and find a place where she could let Lyra loose once in a while. Consuming eco was something she found marginally addicting, in a strange and painful way. She almost counted on the fact that she'd take too much now and again and end up setting Lyra's full strength free, where she'd be unable to resist the animal.

Parts of her didn't want to resist.

She dropped out of thought as she arrived at the power station, getting off the zoomer and trotting up the walkway, pausing to let the door open and poking her head in before the rest of her body.

Vin was inside, and busy, as usual. He looked up to see who was coming in, and then offered a small smile. "Loor!" He turned his attention back to where he'd been working for the moment, finishing something before rushing across the room to the storage locker he'd accessed a few times with her present. "Y-you won't believe it! A KG came here with something for you!"

"I know." She strode in while feeling a wash of relief. She was worried she'd have to wait around for the delivery, which would have thrown a big monkey wrench in her plan to get rid of her unit quickly. "Met him yesterday. He said he was gonna get it delivered here... but hey, maybe it was easier for the guy to come down personally."

Vin appeared from the storage area with a box in hand; handing it over to her. She took it quickly with a smile and a nod. "Thanks."

"What is it?" Vin asked, wondering what in the world Loor could have gotten from a KG.

She troubled herself to open the box, finding out that Ryan had gone to the trouble of padding it with some cloth so her little creation wouldn't roll around much. Drawing it out, Vin recognized the design at once, staring with a slightly open mouth. "Is that...?"

"My original." She said, though there was surprise in her voice. The item looked the same, a silver colored ball held in a mass of insulators, circuits, and conductors, but it felt different to her. Holding it she noted two things; first off, it was heavier than normal. The ball felt as if it were full of lead, which she knew it most certainly was not.

Second; the buzz of eco. She could feel it in her hand, as if the ball were full of it. It made her itch, her lack of it letting her sense even the slightest dregs and crave them.

"How did it get here?" Vin asked, not noticing the look on her face, since she quickly wiped it off.

"It traveled with me, apparently. The KG who had it... he was there when I arrived. Apparently one second I wasn't there, the next I was... with this thing sitting next to me. I'm hoping it'll be able to give me some answers in combination with a device another friend of mine helped me find. The KG wanted to know what this thing did, so he took it before anyone else saw it... lucky for me; I'm pretty sure if Errol or any other authority had gotten a hold of it I would have been watched a lot closer."

"If you don't turn up anything, I'd like to look at it too."

"You got it." She put the device back into the box, closing the lid and tucking it under her arm. "I gotta get moving. Big day today."

"Oh yeah?" The old scientist moved to get back to work. "Keeping out of... trouble?" He hesitated over the last word, aware of how his warning to her had disturbed her last time.

"For the most part." She said, rubbing her arm absently and looking off to the side. "Let's just say... I didn't figure Jak and I would get along so well."

Vin's head spun around to look at her. "Are you two...?"

She blinked, suddenly understanding how that sounded. "Oh, goodness no! Not that serious! We just made fast friends."

"Be careful." Vin said with a sigh, looking back to his things. "We're all depending on you, in a way."

"Yeah, you're all depending on me not to get _in_ the way." She finally turned to leave, shrugging. "Don't worry about it, I'll make sure it all goes right!"

She got out the door while thinking about the fact that everything 'going right' would mean Vin's death. She liked the guy, even more now that she actually knew him, and felt terrible that he was going to meet his end soon, possibly in a week or two. She almost wished she could save him, but didn't even bother with the idea; that wasn't her job.

She got back to her zoomer and turned the nose down towards the port section. At first she argued with the box she was carrying, but settled into driving with one hand on the handlebars and keeping it safely held against her side. She didn't want to break it now, not when it might've been her only shot to finding out what happened to her.

She got into the port section and flew out over the water, switching into the lower zone to avoid other traffic and stopping mid-air to dig her unit out and dump it into the water. It was quick and easy, and she took the handlebars up again to get away from the cursed item as quickly as possible. She counted on Errol himself coming and looking for her, with how angry she heard he was about her continued freedom after shooting him.

_Twice._ She reminded herself, though the second time in front of Teek's home had been more of a graze.

What she hadn't counted on was how quickly he'd come looking for her.

It started with a dim realization that she was being followed. She didn't actually look back, but she could feel it... As she left the port and went up through the palace section she felt all of the hair on the back of her neck standing up in anxiety. Out of the corners of her vision she caught a zoomer tailing her as she went around the massive statue of Praxis and then to the side of the palace itself. It wasn't a red KG zoomer, but it _was_ following her.

It was with creeping dread that she knew that she hadn't gotten rid of her unit fast enough. She probably dropped it just in time for visual confirmation.

But she wasn't in their hands yet. She continued on in normal air traffic, still not letting on that she'd seen the zoomer tailing her as she passed through the Bazaar and into agricultural.

It was there that the zoomer tailing her decided to get impatient. The engine suddenly whined as the driver shot for her, but she responded in kind, ducking down and finally looking back to identify the person behind her.

She expected a group, but she'd expected more than just three. There had been two KG, on red zoomers and hanging much further back from her. The one in the lead, the one she'd been seeing in the corner of her eyes, was a normal zoomer.

Piloted by none other than Errol himself.

She knew she was screwed at that moment. Errol was someone she couldn't damage for fear of killing him, though she very much wanted to. The other problem was the fact that she was driving with only one hand. Errol was a racing champ, good enough to give Jak a run for his money. She was a child gear-head who knew how to pick her lines wisely but not much else.

She'd still put her head down to try and get away. The city section change was right up ahead; leading into the stadium section and the canals that would take her right up to the stadium steps. Her goal was to get at least to the water. Not because she felt she could lose him; getting to the canals would pretty much guarantee she wouldn't, but there was another complication to this situation.

The VC-M1. She had it. If Errol got her now, he'd have it and not be too keen on giving it back... if he knew what it was. She drove in hopes of making the water and dropping the box in to try and get rid of the device, to lose it. She'd rather lose it than give it to him.

Such desperate thoughts were broken by a sudden ray of light above. It made her look up in shock, staring for a moment as the laser cut through the air above the city.

Mar's lighthouse. Jak had pin-pointed the tomb.

Looking up, Loor's driving had faded off to the left. She didn't realize it until it was almost too late, looking forward again and seeing a wall in front of her face. Blinking, she forgot about the breaks and wrapped both arms around the box and clutching it to her chest as she bailed out, kicking away from the speeding zoomer and hitting the ground hard, rolling a few times as she heard it explode against the wall.

She stayed there for a moment, getting the feeling that whenever she lifted up her head she wasn't going to like what she saw. She could hear other engines, pulling up close to her and idling.

"A little messenger with a package. Need a ride, freak?"

Errol's cocky sneer.

She heard the sound of someone hitting the ground, yanking her up by the back of her shirt and pulling the box away from her. "What's this...?" Errol questioned, identifying him as the one who'd taken her parcel. He then barked at his friends. "Take her weapons and restrain her... we've seen how much trouble she can be."

She stood there, looking at her boots, listening to the two other guards hitting the ground. She thought quickly about where they were, and then turned quickly to them.

Her pistol was in her hand a moment later.

One.

Two.

Her practice with Jak had done her well; she hadn't missed. She then whipped around to face Errol again, aiming with conviction. This was the one life she _wanted_ to take, but knew she couldn't. It drove her crazy, but she still had the threat.

Of course, he did too. He had her box, tucked under one arm as his other hand was also occupied with a pistol, smirking at her. He seemed mildly impressed, though she'd just cost him two men.

"Someone's finally growing into her body... but that doesn't change the fact that you _saved_ my life the last time we met."

"Return the favor." She suggested, thinking about what she could do now that it was just him and her. There were two KG zoomers behind her, ripe for the taking... but he had her device. She needed it back. "Let me go."

"Oh, do you think that would be fair?" He grinned, quite entertained with her. "Maybe... if you tell me what this little box is."

"Mine." She snapped. "And I'm not leaving without it."

"Oh, is that so?"

His gun suddenly moved to the side, a shot fired at her shoulder that made her scream and fall to her knees, dropping her own weapon.

"Then I guess you're not leaving just yet."

* * *

**The Author's Corner**

I think I told you guys I had some evil ideas... well here they are. XDD Loor got captured with the others in the previous version too, but it wasn't nearly as fun as this was... I like her fighting more than getting shoved around.

Now I just gotta figure out how she's gonna get her little device back from him. Kidding! Kidding! I got it mostly figured out...

Mostly.

Happy reading,

-Loor


	41. Interrogation

**CLEANED UP**

**Clean up notes for this chapter: **HOLY GOD. Villains are a lot more fun when they're not clueless.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Jak and Daxter... though I most certainly have a lot of fun with Errol. **

**Vacation Or War  
****Chapter Forty One- Interrogation**

Loor hadn't bothered to run. Instead, unarmed, she did the next best thing. Gritting her teeth and clutching her shoulder she forced herself back to her feet, throwing herself at Errol. She wasn't sure what she'd do after that, she just knew that running or submitting were options her brain wasn't calibrated for. Maybe, if she got that box from him, she'd be willing to run, but she couldn't leave that device in his hands.

Something had changed about it since she'd used it. She needed to know what. Why had it suddenly gotten heavy? Why did it feel like the mechanism had eco in it? It _produced_ eco, but the inside of the ball was where the conversion took place, output at the side where it could be hooked into whatever needed power. If any eco had remained inside, it should have dripped out and destroyed parts of the device.

But the device was intact.

She had to get it back.

He stepped out of the way of her charge, easily sticking out a foot and tripping her. She fell, eating turf, choosing to hold her arm instead of trying to break her fall. Her body at once moved to get up again, but he'd turned around and put a foot on her back, keeping her down as long as she refused to use her arms.

"So desperate... whatever's in here must be very important to you..." He chuckled, more of his weight on her as he crouched down. She heard him holster his pistol, but it also sounded like he'd drawn something else from another holster or pocket. "And we'll discuss that later. For now, let's keep you quiet on the trip back, hmm?"

She felt something against her other shoulder; the one he hadn't shot. From pressure to a prick of pain, she let out a reedy cry as she felt a needle enter the major muscle. Pressure made the pain worse, distracting her from the hole in the other arm as icy cold took. Clearly, it had been some sort of hypodermic needle, but what would he have...?

Her head went fuzzy. The cold was spreading.

Tranquilizer.

She was gone.

The dead space felt short, like she'd blinked and then ended up somewhere else. It was similar to waking up, but without the groggy moments it took her to kick-start her brain. She knew she was on her back, and in that awareness she knew her weapons had been taken from her, along with her boots, which could possibly serve as a weapon. She had a sharp focus on a throbbing ache in her right arm that felt like someone had ripped her open.

She remembered getting shot; oh yeah, she had been ripped open. In a way. But why hadn't someone healed her?

She opened her eyes to look and see if a bandage had been applied, at the least. She twisted her head to the side, first sighting that she had a tight white wrap around her shoulder that showed traces of purple welling up from the wound, but they were at least hours old and dried; the bleeding had stopped. They just left her with the wound to prolong the pain.

She then noted where she was laying. She was on some sort of metal table, and she sighted the fact that her wrist was... shackled down.

Horror struck her as she whipped her head around to sight the other wrist, her body held down rather effectively by two two rings of metal.

She then looked up, gasping at the mechanism over her head.

Needles, twisting in air as the machine idled, leading up into a large and round device that was suspended from the ceiling. She had to stare because she suddenly knew exactly where she was.

And she didn't like it one bit. Her ankles were held down in the same fashion as her arms, but she tried to kick her legs anyway, struggling fruitlessly and letting off a primal sound of distress.

"You'd think you'd been in this room before, the way you're acting."

She froze, eyes tracking down between her toes to see her tormenter approaching her. There was a single walk-way out to where she was held, and he practically strutted in victory as he came to stand next to her, grinning.

Errol looked down at her, holding her device. It looked as if he hadn't damaged it, thank goodness.

"Only you haven't." He noted, placing the device on her stomach. She couldn't reach it, thus making the fact that he'd placed it on her all the more maddening. He was teasing her with it. "You've made it very clear you don't like me much... and yet you've saved my life not once, but twice. It's not your loyalties; you've killed enough guards to make it clear the Baron is no friend of yours. And it's certainly not that you enjoy my company... I imagine if I'd given you another chance to shoot me you'd have actually hit something vital this time."

She growled at the patronizing tone. He was walking in a circle around the torture table she was strapped to, hands clasped behind his back, watching her. "Looking for a reason?"

"Ah, those are all points of curiosity. I really only _care_ about one thing here... but once we dive into that subject there really will be no going back." He stopped for a moment, standing next to her head and leaning over to look down at her. "I am most curious about that little bit of scrap you have over there... it looks like nothing, but you treat it like it's more important than life itself. What is it?"

"I told you, _mine._" She locked her eyes back on the needles over her head, wondering how much longer it was going to take for him to snap and sic the machine on her. Not that she wanted such things, but she wasn't going to tell the tattooed bastard anything. "And none of your fucking business."

"Yours? As in you _made_ it?" He started walking around her again.

There was an inflexion in his voice. Surprise? Was he impressed? He just said it _looked_ like nothing... had he examined it while she was out?

"Yeah, so?"

"Where did you find the artifact you put in it?" He suddenly stopped again, by her feet and glaring at her. "The shell might as well be a piece of scrap, but you were smuggling that sphere somewhere!"

"Sphere?" She looked down, blinking. Did he mean the main mechanism? And what did he mean, artifact? The inner workings of the sphere was how she slowed the electrons down, using layers of conductors and insulators to trap groupings and then slow them using two small loadstones. If opened it looked like layers of a mutant onion with two cores.

"Don't play dumb; I scanned it. The outside looks simple enough, but you sealed a sphere of precursor bronze inside with eco crystallized in its core. What is it? Some kind of power source?"

The weight. The buzz.

But how? Opening the mechanism was something that would almost surely destroy it, or at least leave marks, and Ryan claimed he hadn't done anything of the sort.

"I had it when I came here." She finally answered. "But someone's tampered with it... I was taking it to a friend to examine it for me, an expert in precursor junk." She paused, wondering if her next stroke of honesty was going to keep him talking or get her zapped. "A mechanic, Keira."

He frowned, putting his hands on her legs to lean over the table again, looking at her critically. "And does this... mechanic know at all who you are?"

"A name is all I gave her... so no."

He didn't pull back, but the frown morphed back into a smug smirk. Lauren hadn't forgotten that Errol spent much of his time with Keira, flirting the hours away. His question had been to verify that Keira was indeed the law abiding girl he saw her as... or if she was flirting with the enemy, so to speak.

"We'll try this one more time, the easy way... What is it? What does it do? How does it work?"

"You'd never be able to get it to work... you don't have the equipment." She closed her eyes, imagining this is where her interrogation would end and the torture would begin.

"I'm certain as the creator of the device you could show us how it worked."

"At what price?" She snorted. "If you think I'd enter the Baron's employ just to save my life, you're really stupid."

"Am I?" He picked it up off of her stomach, snatching it up while standing up straight to look at it intensely. "With how hard you're fighting to keep it a secret, it could only be a few things... a weapon? Maybe. Eco crystals are volatile. Power is possible too, or maybe..." He shot her a sideways glance. "Your fail-safe. You use up eco like a fire burns up wood. Crystallized energy would be handy for you, wouldn't it?"

"I had that thing since before you turned me into a guinea pig."

"True." He shrugged, tossing it between his hands while walking to the edge of the platform. She tensed, watching him. The platform had no guardrails, but she wasn't worried about him falling. No, a different fear bloomed as he held it just enough over the edge... if he dropped it the device would be sure to break apart, and whatever secrets it held would shatter right along with it. "A sufficient impact would detonate a bomb... also if I just destroyed it I wouldn't have to worry about it being a problem."

"NO!" She snarled, trying to jerk free again. "I still need to know what happened to it!"

"What is it?" He snapped back, not moving from the edge. "Explain it to me, or I'll just drop it and be done."

She gritted her teeth, but finally relented. She couldn't tell him the same lie she'd been telling everyone else; about experiments with a teleporter gone wrong. No, he knew what that technology looked like, or any other like she could possibly come up with. She wouldn't be able to write it off as a variation to something else.

"It makes eco. Before it was tampered with the mechanism took electrical current and manufactured eco in its raw liquid form. I doubt that device will serve the same purpose now... when I first used it, it reacted with some precursor junk I'm yet to identify."

"... makes?" He came back to her, putting the device on her stomach again. "And your ability to re-make the device the way it was?"

She turned her head to the side, away from him. "I'd rather you scramble my brains with a wire whisk."

He was about to answer her with a threat, but was cut off. His head jerked up as a blaring horn cut through the general quiet of the cavernous room, making him growl. "Humph... we'll discuss that possibility in a moment, _freak." _

The horn was an alarm; someone was making trouble in the prison. At first Loor had hope that Errol would shove off and forget about the fact that the VC-M1 was still on her stomach, but such hope went crashing to the ground as he snatched it up again, grinning at her as he caught the way she looked at the little device.

He moved to leave the platform, and she lifted her head to shout after him, angry of his smug nature and sick of the nick-name he kept pegging on her.

"The name is Loor!"

All she got back was a laugh, further invigorating her struggles against her bonds, yelling after him. "Screw this city! I hope you run into Jak and he blows your fucking face off!" She pulled harder, rage coursing through. For the first time she wished for Lyra's help; the animal in her would be strong enough to break free of this bondage...

But she was alone.

"Take her through a few cycles, would you? Perhaps she'll be a little more co-operative once she knows what's in store for her."

Errol's voice at the far end of the room, talking to someone. Probably another guard.

Cycles?

_Oh no. _

The guard, decked out in full KG armor, walked into her view a few moments later. She saw that Errol had given said guard her device, but that didn't really matter to her now.

No, the guard passed her by to go down the stairs on the side of the platform, to the controls for the machine above her head. She looked up at it, staring and fearing what was about to happen. She'd gotten more than lucky in the Dark Warrior Program; she'd been sedated, put under for a new branch that did things a lot faster than they were done to Jak, and rather painlessly. Her blood had been mixed in with eco, little by little, while she was floating in stasis.

Here, she got to lay on a metal table as it was arced into her body. The thing above her was a type of lighting generator, reversing the process of her device. Instead of trying to calm electrons down and bond them to hydrogen, the thing above her was going to agitate them and then violently force the resulting plasma into her body.

It wasn't a complete reversal though; it was still eco, not electricity. And she certainly wasn't in a position to study the difference.

A computerized voice cut through the alarm horn that had called Errol away from her. _"Eco injection cycle initiated." _

The needles above her head dropped close to her face, spinning a little faster, extending as the whole machine above powered up.

"_Please stand clear of the subject during injection cycle to avoid eco contamination. Cycle beginning in three... two... one." _

She remembered screaming. She forgot the pain in her arm as the rest of her body convulsed, shutting her brain down and flooding it with the sound of her own pained bellows. She had trouble actually drawing air in, her whole body trying to curl into to a little ball and protect her from the burning.

Of course she wasn't able, bolted down to the metal table. Everything was twitching, each and every muscle left on its own as she knew little more than screeching her agony. Such torment was beyond words. Had it been just a single shot of the sensation she would have been incapacitated by it and passed out, but it was constant, rolling, each second dulling at the half and then intensifying two-fold the next.

Sweat on her brow, tears on her face, and blood from biting her lip. Salt and copper, freezing cold of the table on her back as she burned on the front. Sensation was all she had. Thought and time had flown out the window.

She felt like she was going to die there.

* * *

**The Author's Corner**

Um... how 'bout them yanks, eh?

Yeah, I know. I suck. A lot.

How's Loor gonna get out of _this_ one?

Well... you'll see in the next chapter!

Which, if you're following the story with each update, won't be up till tomorrow.

Happy reading,

-Loor


	42. Rescue Party

**CLEANED UP**

**Clean up notes for this chapter:** Eeeh... short chapter as we kinda cover some space that I rushed through last time around.

**Disclaimer: I don't own Jak and Daxter. **

**Vacation or War  
****Chapter Forty Two- Rescue Party**

"_Injection cycle aborted; security code CT-H-21; operator override." _

It took Lauren a second to realize it had stopped. Her body was still out of contact with her stuttering brain, and opening her eyes did very little when they were blurry with tears. She was gasping, exhausted, closing her eyes again when she found out they were irrelevant. The words from the computer didn't make any sense to her, just noise as she swallowed the blood in her mouth.

"_Subject restraints releasing in three... two... one." _

She felt the shackles coming loose from her ankles and wrists, taking the opportunity to curl up at long last, wiping her eyes and nursing the giant ache her body was. She didn't want to move at all, worn out and still reeling.

"Oh my God honey, are you okay?"

A voice next to her. Light, airy, but still male. She lifted her head from the ball she'd turned herself into. It was a guard, but not in full armor. Black pants, red shirt, the boots, but not the rest of it. Was he off duty?

Tan skin. Bright blond hair. Big puppy-dog eyes. He leaned down and took hold of her, pulling her up to her feet. "C'mon, sweetie, your knight in shining armor is just around the corner, and he's probably going to shoot me the second he can see the tattoos. I got your things back for you."

She finally got her head around what was going on. "... Ryan? Why are you...?"

"I told you honey, drafted. I don't like being here, and I like Errol even less. Little psycho..."

She was suddenly standing up on her own power, Errol's name connecting to a boiling rage. "Where did he go? I'll kill him, the son of a-"

"Easy!" The tall KG cautioned her, glancing around. "I gotta get out of here too. It'll be my head on a chopping block for helping you."

There was a moment that she took to think, looking to his other hand to find he had all of her things; including the VC-M1. She took her weapons first, arming herself and then taking her boots to put back on. "Hide by the machine's controls." She finally commanded while taking the device from him.

"That'll hide me from _your_ guy, but what about getting away from the army that's going to chase you guys out of here? You know, the one I'm supposed to be part of?"

"Who said we'd be walking out the way he came in?" She asked slyly. "Hide."

Ryan stared at her, but decided to trust her, going down by the machine's controls. She looked after him, since she wondered just how he'd gotten the machine to stop. A different guard had been in possession of her device, and had started the injection cycle at Errol's command.

Down on the lower platform, the first guard was laying unconscious.

She looked as she heard the door at the far end of the room opening up, clutching her device to her chest. She was desperate not to lose it again, no matter who came through that door.

Thankfully, it was her salvation that came trotting through.

"Loor!" Daxter yelled as Jak moved into the room quickly, holding his weapon at the ready. He was clearly in kill-mode, ready to take anyone out who looked like they'd stand in his way. It wasn't until he ascertained that the room was safe that he looked over to her and managed a happy and surprised smile.

"You're okay?" Jak asked, though it was really more a question of _how_ she managed to be totally alright while standing right next to the torture device they both expected her to be strapped into.

"With a little help." She said quickly. "But he was afraid that if you saw him you'd shoot him."

"Why would I...?" Jak trailed off as she leaned over the side and motioned to someone who was standing blow his field of vision. Of course, since Ryan was a very tall person, he wasn't out of sight for long. As expected, Jak tensed at the sight of Ryan's tattooed hide. "Are you sure?" He asked, clearly not trusting the tall KG.

"He's already saved my tail twice. We need to get him out of here; they'll kill him for helping me." She started a quick walk away from the platform to get to the edge. Ryan followed slowly, watching Jak in case the guy decided to blow his brains out anyway.

"Jeez... they grow 'em tall in the guard." Daxter noted, looking up and staring. Discussion on whether or not they were going to help the guy was put on pause as the sound of more doors opening made everyone in the room look.

There were prison cells along the walls. The people here were not just trapped, but also in range to hear the screaming whenever someone was being tortured. Two of those cells were opening at that moment.

"Vin comes through for us again!" Dax grinned. "Gotta love having a guy on the inside of the system." He then leapt down from Jak's shoulder to watch the cell doors open, looking for Tess, who was one of the agents taken. He sighted her and did what he must have thought as a heroic pose. "Hey there sweetheart! The metal head masher has saved the day! Oh, and I let Jak tag along too."

Tess wasted no time in leaning down and picking him up for a huh. "Oh, my little hero!"

Jak had gone to the other cell, peeking in on the prisoner; the Shadow. The man was standing there, looking quite puzzled, and it had Jak worried. "Samos, are you alright?"

Jak jerked back as a second man popped his head out from around the corner. He looked just like the Shadow, plus fifty years.

It was the version of Samos that Jak and Daxter knew; their mentor.

"What took you so long?" The older man barked. "I added six rings to my trunk waiting for you two to get me outta here!" He then paused, staring for a moment. "Great yakkow horns! What happened to you Jak?"

Daxter had been released by his girl, looking at the two different Samoses in the cell. "Wait a minute! You're you! I mean, the other you! I mean... you know what I mean..."

The younger Samos took a few steps out of the cell to join his older version outside. They were both short, skin tinted green from years of researching said color of eco. The younger version had an afro though that the log on his head log was nestled in, where the elder Samos had long white hair that had been wrapped around said head log and braided over one shoulder, wrapped in leather. The only other major difference aside from that was that the elder Samos was using a staff to help with walking around.

"Yes," The younger Samos was nodding, "it seems I have an older time twin." He then took to continuing what had to be a through examination both men had been conducting while still in the cell. "Great grass grubs! I can't believe what a cranky old log I've become!"

Daxter was disturbed by this. "_Two_ Samos the Sages? AAACK! Jak!" The ottsel went to hide behind his friend's legs. "They're multiplying!"

The elder Samos tried to take charge at once. "We need to find the kid, pronto!" He demanded, ignoring all extra company that was now grouped up around the two open cells.

"What are you talking about, old growth?" The younger batted back rudely. "The kid already opened the tomb. Our top priority should be to disrupt the Baron's forces!"

"_Oh, _look who thinks they've sprouted! If you were half as wise as I am, you'd know that the proper course of action is to find the kid!"

"Listen, you old dried up leaf, I run this outfit, and _I_ say we go after the Baron's forces!"

Daxter finally got his nerves together, stepping in between the two arguing men and hopping up to push them apart at chest-level. "Do we have to separate you two?"

Jak was looking off to the side, away from the arguing Samoses. At the other end of the room was a teleporter ring, and it had just turned on. Their escape window had opened, and they only had so much time to use it before Vin's tampering with the machines in the room would be noticed. "Vin's activating the warp gate. We need to get out of here, now!"

The two Samoses didn't argue, Tess and Daxter moving quickly as well. Jak turned back to Loor as she hesitated, looking back to Ryan, who was also holding back for fear that his presence would be unwelcome.

"Fine." The blond hero grunted. "Just move!"

Ryan bolted for the warp ring without a word, and though Loor originally held back to bring up the rear Jak pushed her ahead, tucking his weapon away while giving her the shove through. The girl felt like she'd tripped into the teleportation device, off balance as she went from the fortress one second to landing in the power station the next. Ryan had been just head of her, catching her before her face hit the floor and pulling her out of the way as Jak landed.

"Is that everyone?" A rather frightened Vin yelped.

"Yeah!" Jak answered.

"Gate closing then!"

No one argued as the warp ring powered down. Daxter returned to Jak's shoulder as Tess explained she needed to get back to her post at the Hip Hog; she'd been picked up by the guard at her south town apartment, so they still didn't know where she worked. She'd just need to re-located. The younger Samos wanted to return to the underground at once to start directing agents to mess up the Baron's forces, starting up his argument with his elder self, who was rather adamant about finding the kid as soon as possible. Vin kept out of it, not questioning why he was seeing double of the Shadow.

The time twins occupied, Jak turned to Loor, taking her by the arm to inspect where she'd been shot. "What happened to you?" He asked. "I'd hoped you got away..."

"Torn sold us out through our comm. numbers. I figured it out... but not early enough; Errol had already been after me."

"How'd you get off of that chair?" Daxter asked. "You looked too calm to have pulled what Jak did when I rescued him from that place!"

"Ryan..." She jerked her head over to the tall KG that had come with them. "Released me. Got all my stuff, too. This thing..." She lifted her other hand, showing the device in her hand. "Was what I needed to pick up today. Errol almost took it from me... but I got damn lucky."

Jak turned his angry eyes on Ryan, letting go of Loor. "And why the hell are you helping her...? I think I remember you; always around after Errol was done with me, double checking to make sure the machine wasn't getting my readings wrong. You seemed happy enough with your job back then."

"I liked keeping my head on my shoulders, thank you." Ryan returned, not seeming to pick up Jak's irritation. The guy remained placid and smiley. "I'm helping because... well I guess you could say I'm following an example. My best friend in the guard tried to help her sister, Fury."

"You knew her?" Dax asked, sitting up on Jak's shoulder.

"She was a sweetie." Ryan nodded. "Artimus, my friend... he threw everything he had at trying to save her. He died for it, but..." The smile Ryan wore so commonly started to break. "I never liked what I did. But after he went like that, and we heard that Fury had been killed after escaping... I couldn't stand it anymore."

"Well, I think we can officially mark you out of the guard, brother." Daxter commented.

"Think you'll join up with the resistance?" Loor asked, looking up at him. "I bet we'd find a use for you..."

"Oh, _no." _Ryan waved his hands as if to protect himself. "I'm so sick of this war, and I got a place to stay, don't you worry about me. Thanks though, you're almost as sweet as your sister. You just make sure that little doodad I saved for you goes to some real use... or I'm gonna wish I'd never poked a toe out of line in the first place."

"Don't worry, it's already done some good, and I haven't even gotten a chance to examine it yet."

Ryan nodded and went to hug Loor; this time he got a hug back. Loor liked the tall guy, though she got a _serious_ gay vibe off of him. It was okay, because if she didn't it would have made his overall friendliness a tad creepy.

"So what is that thing?" Dax asked, attention turning to the next most interesting thing in the room as long as the two Samoses were bickering, pointing at the device in Loor's hand.

"This?" She asked, looking down and getting a small smile. "This is the piece of junk that got me into this mess in the first place. I've got someone who's gonna take a look at it with me... and hopefully I can figure out a way back home."

"Are you _still_ trying to run away from us, toots?" The ottsel whined. "Come _on,_ you can't just leave at this point in the action! I'd get lonely!"

"Take it easy, Dax." Loor giggled, shrugging and then cursing as she disturbed the place where she'd been shot, swearing in all colors of the rainbow and at least three different languages. This caused Daxter to laugh at her pitiful pain resistance, but Jak was still watching her rather carefully. She didn't know why, since the guy didn't look suspicious and was still calming down from being royally pissed off at Torn.

She imagined she'd find out later; after they fixed the hole in her shoulder.

* * *

**The Author's Corner**

Well this one turned out a tad short... eh, I'm not gonna push it. Not my best work, but it keeps things moving.

And I guess I lied; people keeping up with updates didn't have to wait till tomorrow. XDD

Happy reading,

-Loor


	43. Research

**CLEANED UP**

**Clean up notes for this chapter:** A new scene with Keira, and a new thing with Jakkie-boy leading up into an old scene... that the vets might just kill me for doing again. Not that it was bad, it was actually kinda epic...

It just made a lot of people sad. XDD

**Disclaimer: I don't own Jak and Daxter**

**Vacation or War  
****Chapter Forty Three- Research**

"Knock-knock? Keira?"

It was late evening by the time Loor and the boys had separated. She and Jak had gotten new comm. units from Vin with different numbers, just in case the Baron was going to try and keep tabs on the numbers Torn had ousted to protect Ashelin, and taken the time to get her arm fixed. It had been interesting because Errol had packed and bandaged her wound, but such packing had to be removed before a green eco pack could be used effectively. Either way she'd gotten through it and parted ways with the trouble twins, finally getting around to what she'd started her day with.

Delivering the VC-M1 to Keira. The blue-haired mechanic was behind her green curtain again, thus why Loor was knocking on the work table outside and announcing her presence. She was pretty sure she'd get a wrench to the face if she even _thought_ about moving the curtain Keira had up.

"Loor!" The girl was surprised, but from her tone of voice it was pleasantly so. "I didn't know you were going to stop by!"

"Eh... something happened to my comm. and I lost all my contacts. Otherwise I woulda called ahead." The girl chuckled. "Either way... I got something I'd like to take a look at with you. Particularly to get your professional analysis on it. I assume you've got some precision cutting tools around here, right?"

"Sure, what are you cracking open?"

"Well... you know how I was asking about precursor technology that reacted to the presence of eco?"

"Yeah."

"What would you say if I told it that eco was... manufactured?"

There was a pause as Keira's shadow against the curtain moved, her head poking out at the side. "What?"

Loor offered a sheepish smile. "Wanna take a look at this with me?"

Keira was out with a few select tools in moments, making sure the curtain was securely shut behind her before setting her things on the work bench, looking at Loor's device. "What is it? How does it work?"

Loor rolled her eyes. The mechanic girl sounded like Errol, only a lot less hostile. "This one doesn't work anymore... something happened to it. I'll explain the concept another time; I need to get into this thing while doing as little damage to the outer shell as possible; I hate to waste good parts. Got anything that can open the main bit here?"

"Easy." Keira answered, picking up one of her tools and ready to hand it over as Loor brought the device up close to her face to open the points where the sphere was hooked into the rest of the device; it would be easier to work with if she didn't have to deal with the rest of the hardware. Once she had the ball detached she put the extra bit down, taking the tool that Keira offered. It honestly looked like an exacto-knife, only the blade was a tiny nub and there was a button on the grip. "If you push the button the tip gets really hot; it'll cut through just about anything but precursor bronze."

"What do you use when you need to cut through precursor metals?" Loor asked while following her direction. Holding the button, it didn't take long for the tip of the little knife to start glowing red.

"Arc welder and a lot of patience. Speaking of, that artifact you were after should be in sometime tomorrow."

"Thought you used welders for putting shit together..." Loor muttered while sinking the hot blade into the original seam of the sphere, cutting through like warm butter.

"Usually, but if you switch that thing up to a high enough setting, and assuming you don't knock out the power, you can melt your way through just about anything. Messy, but it works. Why do you ask?"

"I was hoping you had another precision tool like this..." Loor spoke slowly as she rotated the ball in her hand, cutting all the way around and then putting the knife down, gripping the two halves and popping the outer shell open.

Precursor bronze gleamed inside.

"Because if I'm to believe what I was told about the initial scan of this thing, it's not the device I made anymore."

"Is that...?" Keira's brow had drawn down, reaching out to take the sphere of bronze from the inside. Loor shook her head, instead handing the whole thing to her so the girl would grab by the silver-colored outside. She didn't argue, holding it for a moment. "What did the initial scan say?"

"That the little orb inside is full of eco crystals. When I got it back after that I was afraid to shake it too hard in case it exploded on me..."

"Wouldn't matter." Keira handed the opened device back, going to a toolbox and returning with a set of heavy-duty gloves, this time directly drawing out the bronze sphere to get a better look at it. Loor had to assume the gloves allowed one to handle dark eco without suffering burns or contamination. "No weld points, but I've seen stranger things with precursor artifacts. They must have been experts at this stuff... I wish I could just meet one and pick their brain for a few days. Either way, even if you did disturb the crystals inside, I'd suspect the ball is made to contain such things."

"It's the size of an apple, and you think it could stand up to an eco explosion?"

"Precursors knew their stuff." Keira was frowning though. "But I can't believe how smooth it is... not a scratch on it."

"What's that mean?"

"Precursor metal may be the toughest building material we know, but it's not impervious. Older artifacts eventually do tarnish, and have scratches from rocks, sand, and otherwise. Look at this thing, real close."

Loor did as she was told, staring at the shining ball critically. "I don't see anything. It's perfect."

"Flawless." Keira agreed. "_New." _

"What? That's not possible..." Loor shook her head, trailing off. "What am I talking about... this whole thing has been one impossibility after another. I still don't even know how that little sphere got into my device..."

"_Making_ eco is something I've never heard of before..." Keira was now putting the ball back into the shell of Loor's device, checking the fit. "And it sounds dangerous. Dark eco runs wild in large amounts, tainting everything it touches... we've found a lot of precursor technology devoted to controlling the amount that gets to the surface. It's like they knew we'd need it, but also knew we'd get greedy. Your device might have activated a fail-safe of theirs."

"Then why didn't it just destroy the device?"

"Probably more to it than that." Keira had the ball in her hand again, the shell in the other. "These two are a perfect fit to each other. There's no wiggle room at all. It's not like you just picked up this thing some how... it's like it was specially made to fit inside your device."

"But how the hell did it get inside?" Loor demanded to know. "That was my original weld line; no one had cut it open and put it back together; I would have noticed. And what happened to the original mechanism?"

"I'm not sure." Keira shrugged. "I'm just putting ideas out there. I might be totally wrong, but you don't get far with precursor technology unless you guess a little bit." She then put the ball back inside the shell, closing it up and gathering up the extra piece of the device. "I'll keep this safe for you; come back tomorrow night and we'll see what we can find out with that other artifact."

Loor nodded, sighing and rubbing her head. "I'll try... I'll call you if I can't make it, alright? Feel free to get started without me; I'm pretty clueless when it comes to this stuff. I just wanna be here to hear about what you find out."

Keira came back after depositing everything somewhere behind her curtain; she probably had some sort of safe storage locker back there. "How long were you carrying that thing around?" She asked while gently taking one of Loor's wrists, looking at the hand critically. "Even through the outer layer, you probably risked contamination through extended exposure."

"Uh... I had it for about half of the day, give or take. It was in a box for some of that, but for the last hour or so I've been holding it just in my hand."

Keira made a dismissive noise, letting go of her hand and shrugging. "You feel okay? No fever, no shakes?"

"Yeah. Dandy."

"Alright... you might just have a natural resistance." Keira shrugged. "But if you know anyone else who handled it with her bear hands, you might wanna direct them to a doctor. Contamination in small amounts can be treated if you catch it quickly... and if you don't... well let's just say it's the most effective cancer agent on the planet. Mutations to cell structure and stuff..."

"Ew... nasty."

* * *

It had begun to rain over Haven city. It was a warm summer storm, chasing people off of the streets and lighting up the sky with the occasional fork of lighting, booming thunder following after. Most people shied from such whether, but Loor was happily walking in it. She'd noticed the air getting humid earlier that day, but it hadn't seemed that important to her while running around the city trying to avoid Errol and then ending up captured anyway.

Thankfully her stay at the fortress hadn't been long... and Ryan had bailed her out before her brain completely snapped. She remembered the few disoriented moments she'd had while getting off of that torture table, the thoughts that had been coursing through her mind the moment Errol's name was so much as mentioned.

She felt like an animal, wanting to rip him apart for what he'd done to her. Sure, he hadn't been at the controls, but he'd commanded it. After she felt after just one treatment, she couldn't imagine how Jak felt after two years of it. It was amazing the guy was still lucid and able to participate in everyday life.

Still, she couldn't keep her mind in such places while walking in the rain. The whole event worked to relax her as she walked away from the stadium, turning off of the path that would take her straight back to the underground and deciding she was not only going to walk back, she was going to take the long way around. And why not? It's not like anyone was waiting for her. She didn't want to see Torn's face, if the guy was even there. She could stay out as late as she wanted, and no one would mind...

Right?

The rain made her calm, but it didn't make her happy. Back at home, the two feelings were one in the same. If she could get the gears in her head to slow down for ten seconds it was a wonderful thing that probably led to getting some sleep. Now the gears had slowed and, though she was indeed calm, there was no smile on her face. No comfort to be had.

_Why? _She questioned to herself, passing from town and into the agricultural section, city smells clearing from her nose as greenery took. It served to clear her mind even more, but still she felt so... blank. Flat. Meh.

Alone.

She shook her head, near violently, to forget such a feeling. She didn't need anyone standing by her. She'd always been an independent being, doing near everything on her own. Granted, here, she had to take help from others to get anywhere, but that was because it was a world she wasn't used to. She didn't have much of a choice if she wanted to make any progress.

_And that progress is coming along quite nicely. _She reminded herself while looking down at her boots, walking slowly. _I can fight better, I've learned how to shoot, and if Keira comes through I'll have a pretty good shot at getting home. No idea what I'll do when I get there... Coming down from all this excitement will be kinda tough..._

Her thoughts wound to a stop, feeling a frown tighten on her face.

Then, breaking her from her thoughts before they turned gloomy, she felt something buzzing against her hip. It made her yelp, reaching for the pouch on her hip and laughing at herself for such a jumpy reaction; she had to learn not to freak the hell out at everything that buzzed or beeped at her. It was just her comm. unit, telling her that someone was looking for her.

Upon answering, she had to blink. The video feed was dim, but she could still see the person on the other side perfectly well. "Jak? What's going on, you get worried about me? What are you doing outside in this...?"

"_I could ask you the same thing. Do me a favor and look up and just a little to your left." _

Confusion hit her with the urge to question, but she didn't. She did as she was told, taking her eyes off of her boots to look up the way...

To see he wasn't just out in the rain, he was not even thirty feet from her and walking closer. "Jak!" She yipped, surprised yet again and jogging over to meet him. "What are you doing out here...? And where's Daxter?"

"With Tess." He was smiling at her, still in full gear but fairly relaxed. "Krew sent us on a run through the sewers... figured I'd come up here and try to pull your stunt; though I figured I'd just go swimming and let my clothes dry off overnight."

"And it started raining on your way up?" She snickered. "Well hey, you get a shower instead of a bath. Though I'm surprised Tess is willing to deal with Dax after a jaunt through the sewers..."

He smirked, shrugging. "I heard rumors of her taking him to her new apartment and bathing him personally."

They both were able to chuckle at that, but it faded off as he gave her that look again. Finally calm, she was able to identify it. Curiosity and concern; he wanted to know what had happened to her at the fortress.

"Let's walk." She invited, beginning to move. She deviated from her original course, going the way Jak had come from; towards the forest. She'd rather enjoy the storm and talk to him in the comfort of greenery, and he didn't fight her about it, just following along. "What's eating you?"

"You said Errol had caught up with you... and yet you didn't look any worse for wear when Dax and I came to get you. You had a guy on the inside, and granted we had to save his ass too... but I expected you to be a little more..."

"Scared?" She asked, hooking her thumbs on her belt.

"Angry. It's all I can think of after being in that room again... when Dax found me there, I was ready to lay into anything. I expected to find you... well, like me. Half sane. Of course, I also still expected you to be strapped into that chair."

"Ryan got to me a little while before you guys showed up... and I was like that for a few moments. One mention of Errol and I was ready to run straight into the fortress and go looking for him... but Ryan needed my help, and that got my head on straight. And now, out here again, I'm reminded of the overall goal, and it keeps me in control."

They'd gotten to the steep ramp that led up to the big security doors, Jak looking at her intensely. "Overall goal?"

"This war is going to end. Sooner than you might think." She sighed. "I told you... I can't say too much. I'm just trying to make sure everything happens as it should, despite the fact that I'm here... So far things are going well, but there's a lot of room between point A and point B for things to get seriously ugly..."

She wanted to say how things were going to look really ugly either way; the fight for this city came right down to the wire before everything ended.

Such things didn't stay on her mind though; thunder boomed overhead and reminded her about the pelt of warm drops on her back. Again her worries were banished as her mind calmed.

But this time she was smiling.

* * *

**The Author's Corner**

The vets know where this is going... and the newbies are going to learn very soon that I can be very mean.

ONWARD!

-Loor


	44. Rain

**CLEANED UP**

**Clean up notes for this chapter: **HOLY HELL WE MADE IT! AND THERE ISN'T ANY SINGING!

Seriously people... what was I thinking back then? Meow.

ORIGHT I recently posted a really good fanfic-related rant on DA. Check it out if it tickles your fancy. My name on there is the same as here.

**Disclaimer: I don't own Jak and Daxter. I just love it. A lot. **

**Vacation Or War  
****Chapter Forty Four- Rain**

The storm had made the precursor temple take a turn for the awe-inspiring. The view of the structure was already a striking thing from the ledge overlooking the giant gap, and now the rain had caused the various falls coming off of the temple to flood. Though the dark clouds and late evening made the area rather dark, the occasional flash of lighting would reflect off of the great metal structure, leaving an incredible vision of the area in the eyes of the beholder. This vision was made mysterious by how the lighting was unpredictable, and beautiful once the worst of the storm was over.

Still sitting there, even after the lighting faded and the rain slowed to a drizzle, was Jak and Loor. They'd seated themselves on the ledge, watching the storm and talking around the blasts of thunder. They'd stayed on fairly safe subjects, not really diving into anything serious. Loor asked about the finer details of what she missed while in the fortress, making sure Jak hadn't gotten into any more trouble than he should of, while he asked her how she'd first met Ryan and what the guy had done for her to trust him. It was a simple explanation of what had happened at the races without the other-worldly implications of it, and even though she mentioned her device he didn't ask her about it again.

He'd already asked once, and all she told him was that it had gotten her here. If she could have told him more, she would have, so silence took after that subject.

And it settled in. It was like some of the other silences they experienced; there was no discomfort that neither of them had something to say. They were simply watching the turbulent turn of the weather while enjoying each other's company. Eventually the storm waned, calming from violent winds and booming thunder to a brisk breeze and the occasional crack between lighter sheets of rain.

Loor couldn't be bothered; the event had a way of calming her. She wasn't consciously aware of why such chaos put a smile on her face when she herself was a massive control freak. The whole thing was something beyond her power, and she'd rather pay witness than try to command it. Already soaked, she dropped back into the sodden grass and stared at the sky with a smile, her feet hanging of the ledge and swaying slightly. She'd put her boots and socks aside, since she'd rather have her feet wet with nothing covering them than to be wearing shoes.

And he was next to her, mostly looking at the sky but eventually sharing a smile with her. Did he find this as relaxing as she did? Her mind couldn't concentrate on the question; the rain seemed to sweep away any mental activity that didn't have a verbal counterpart. If she wasn't talking, she was a blank sheet. She could have been anywhere, at any time, millions of miles away from anything that worried her or made her tense.

In this moment, she was free. Happy.

He joined her in laying back and staring at the sky, though it was a black abyss above them. Now that the storm had blown itself out the rain was lessening to no more than a drizzle, not coming in irregular waves but instead a steady mist.

"Hey, Loor."

"Hmmm?"

"A few nights ago... what did you mean when you said I was your hero?"

She didn't answer at first. It took her time to pull her brain together enough to first remember when she'd said that, and then let out a sigh as she couldn't think of what to say. There were many ways she could explain, but none of them were completely the truth... and all of them would leave him with more questions.

The rain stopped, and she came back to reality. Her escape from the world have been brief and the effects heavily temporary.

"Jak... imagine your favorite story in the world. You love each and every thing about it; wonderful plot, great characters, action, adventure, even a twist of horror, tragedy, and a whiff of romance. Something that keeps your attention, and brings you back to re-visit it again and again, just because it's that good. And then imagine that you did something... and though you never expected it to happen, you ended up in that story. Not reading or watching, but _experiencing _it. Living in the world, meeting the characters..."

She paused. All of her tensions were coming back as she remembered just how deep she was in this.

"And going through the events."

She turned her head to face him, a troubled frown on her lips. She didn't know if she could say this much, but she dared to at the moment. Every time she'd trusted him with her pain, he'd been able to help, just by telling her she'd get through it. That simple support was everything.

"A story?" He asked, staring at the sky still.

She felt her face turning red. He doubted her, she could hear the estranged tone in his voice. She turned her head away from him, and then rolled her body over to face away as well. The ground was no longer a damp mat like a wet blanket, instead a cold place to hide her head.

"You know about all of this... from some adventure story where you come from? You know me?"

"Not personally..." She muttered, shaking her head against the grass. She imagined the mud that might get on her face if she kept pressing herself into the dirt. "But I'd known what happened to you, the things you and Dax did... the adventure. My story only covered the action... I had been sure it was a dream when I woke up in the fortress, but after that I knew what I was doomed to... I had no idea how intimately the host and dark personality interacted, and even if I did it wouldn't have defended me from her..." She trailed off.

"So more people know about us too." He stated, his tone of voice still flat. She felt like he was just humoring her.

"They know the story... unless they came here like I did, I don't think any of them could believe it. It's too... off the wall for my world. Fantastic. We don't have the technology you guys have here, or metal heads or..." She bit her cheek before she mentioned the lack of eco. "It's a fantasy to them. I don't know who found this place before me and found out about you, or decided to spread your story to the masses as a work of fiction... I just know that now that my world knows it one way, they'll never believe it the other."

"You believe it."

No... his tone wasn't one that was simply humoring her... there was another quality to it. It was how her brother talked to her when he thought she was making everything up. That flat and uncaring tone that said he was waiting and watching for her to say just the right thing for him to attack her with.

She knew that tone.

She hated it.

She turned on him, sitting up quickly to bowl him over. She was sick of all the verbal abuse she took from people, family and friends alike. She had it at home and beat them back with what had been lackluster skills, but now she felt dangerous. She felt like she could take anyone who dared accused her of anything that wasn't true, including Jak.

"Of course I do! I've been living this shit for about a week now, running around a war zone with weapons I'd never dreamed of strapped to my body, following your skinny ass around just so I can stick with the shit I know despite the risks it represents! And fuck, it's even been fun now and again, and those times I'd love to think it's a dream, but whenever Lyra starts talking or I lose my hold on myself the nightmare shows itself to be as real as it can be!"

She panted from shouting at him, dropping her head, wet hair stuck to her skin and thus not falling to protect her face from the world.

Finally broken, she gave way to the emotional reactions she'd kept to herself for as long as she possibly could.

"It was all fun at first... the first day... with you and Dax... and Fury... it was some incredible dream that I was almost willing to lose myself in. Despite where I'd woken up, I was willing to write it all off as fun and games... But it's only gotten too real after that! First Lyra, then losing Fury... and now what have _I_ done in the name of staying alive? I've killed people Jak! I may not remember a single face among them, but I've shot living beings! This is _not_ my idea of a summer vacation!"

She had her teeth clenched, eyes closed, on the verge of enraged and confused weeping. She had him on the ground, sitting on his body and holding his shoulders, but he hadn't fought her since she tackled him.

She yelped in surprise as he suddenly sat up, taking a hold of her while scooting a little bit away from the ledge they'd both hung their feet over. At first it was a grab to make sure she didn't go over the side when he brought his upper body upright, but it morphed into a hug. They were both sopping wet, but it didn't matter.

"I'm sorry... but I had to make sure... you never lie when you're angry at someone. I noticed it with you and Daxter... whenever he irritated you, you had more trouble dodging his questions."

"You made me mad to make sure I was telling the truth?" She spat, still feeling like she'd been rubbed the wrong way and wanting to fight him.

"I knew it would work." He shrugged. "Had to be careful though... if I'd gone overboard in pissing you off, you might've shoved me off the cliff or something."

She looked back, as if she'd forgotten it was there, before laughing sheepishly. "Y-yeah..."

"So..." He got her attention back while relaxing his arms on her. She was fully welcome to move if she wanted to. "That's why you weren't surprised by any of the dark eco stuff. You already knew as much as you possibly could walking in without going through it yourself. And as for me being your hero..." He chuckled softly to himself. "Wow. You must be my biggest fan or something."

"More like stalker now..." She muttered. "I've known about you for a year and some, and good God you wouldn't believe...-_grk!_"

She suddenly broke off as she realized something.

She was sitting on his lap. Facing him. In his arms. She'd gone from pinning him to sitting with him like this as she'd switched from attacking to talking with him once more, but the implication of it was just hitting her now; how close she was to him, just where her legs were still hanging on to his narrow hips...

The noise that came from her throat was rather like something choking as she argued with herself on what was to be done from such a position.

"Believe what?" He was smiling at her. "If I can accept the fact that some other world knows my life as a story-book, I think I can handle just about anything else."

"Uh..." She was shaking her head, and eventually decided she knew the proper course of action as her brain went to places best not mentioned. Like times before, she lifted one fist and gave herself a whack on the crown, wincing and rubbing the spot after. "Nevermind!"

He blinked at her behavior. He knew why she hit herself; she called it her brain taking a detour. She'd give herself a thwack to get things back where she wanted them to be. If it wasn't potentially damaging he might have found it funny, but now he was curious as to what exactly she'd just beat herself out of. The previous times he'd seen the behavior she'd hinted on her thoughts going to more... _adult_ subjects.

He just realized the fact that she was still sitting on his lap. Of course he didn't react with the horror and confusion that she did; instead he smirked at her while bringing up yet another conversation they'd had.

"I think you mentioned once that you had a lot of _ideas_ in that head of yours." He snickered. "Care to share?"

"The word I used was _fantasies._ And that's exactly what they are and what they'll stay as. Fantasies. In. My. Head." With that extra bit of anger she had convinced her body to stand up and get off of him, moving to pick up her stuff. "C'mon, let's go back before we both catch a cold out here."

He was right behind her, not letting her get away that easily. That was twice now that they'd nearly had a moment... for her to break away from him and throw the mood right out the window. Last time, the night before at the gun course, she'd had Daxter's unceremonious entrance as an excuse, but she was only too quick to pull back and run away.

He grabbed her arm and pulled her back. She wasn't a runner; she was a fighter. She may have still been growing into herself, but he could tell that much. It killed her to run away. She hated it more than he hated her dodging him.

"Calm down." He advised, softly. "Just tell me what you were thinking."

"I don't have those words. I hate saying those things out loud... and I won't show you."

He smirked, feeling clever. It was the same way he felt when he figured out a way to trick her into gun training. "Then can I guess?"

"Knock yourself out." Was her short and hostile return.

"You wanted to kiss me."

She felt a hot zing up her spine. It was one thing to have the idea in her head; it was another to hear him say it... and for him to be right.

"Among other things..." He added. "But that was what you were thinking last night too, before Dax busted in."

She didn't answer at first, the two of them standing there for what seemed to be far too long before she finally turned around and faced him. "Yeah, I did. I do. And what are you going to do now that you know, Mr. Hero?"

He was still smiling at her. She didn't notice at first but he'd taken a hold of her again, pulling her into him once more for another hug. But this time she knew that he also intended to bring her thoughts to reality; he was going to kiss her. At first she felt herself turning warm, the very idea causing a happy rush of endorphins.

He liked her too.

At the same moment a different feeling distracted her; the reason she reacted so violently to her own emotions pertaining to the subject.

This was not her place.

He was going to kiss her, and she would be more than happy to allow that to happen, to return the action and shove him into the nearest wall to finally take advantage of the fact that he was ready, willing, and right in front of her. Once it started, she doubted her own capacity to stop it.

And it was not her place to be.

She turned her head to the side, feeling him brush her cheek and pull back quickly. He let go of her as she stepped back and away from him. "Loor?" He asked, worry in his voice. Despite the fact that she'd been thinking it, he was worried he'd crossed a line by trying.

She wished. She wished that this was just a problem of too much, too soon, but the fact was it was too much the moment she met him.

"What about Keira?" She asked. She didn't look at him, eyes in the grass.

"She's afraid of me." His voice growled. "And she's been flirting with Errol for pretty much the whole time I was in prison... are you telling me I was willing to go back with her after that? I was that stupid, to stay with someone who didn't even ask questions before assuming I was a monster at one mention of dark eco?" He snorted. "That's one part of the story I'd rather not follow, thanks."

"You forgave her, once she was willing to look at you like she used to." She shook her head, sighing and turning to walk away. "I've probably already destroyed everything just by being here, but you and Keira are meant to be. Please, just because I've seen it doesn't mean it's going to happen that way on it's own. Things _need_ to stay on track... or this world is doomed."

"Are you sure about that?" He asked. "Is that part really _that_ important?"

"Honestly..." She looked back at him. "That's not the part that bothers me the most. Keira still understands you as _her_ guy. You got a problem with her flirting with the enemy and looking at you funny? Great, go talk to her about it, but don't try to saddle _me_ up till you do."

With that, she walked quickly to get back to the city and away from him.

* * *

**The Author's Corner**

HOLY HELL WE MADE IT!

This chapter was... difficult to re-do, but I feel it came off well.

And yes I _do_ have that big of a problem with guys trying to juggle two chicks at once. You can call it exploring options or whatever, I call it cheating. Friends is okay; a guy can have all the female friends that he wants, but something a little too close for comfort goes down and I got an issue. PLUTONIC FRIENDS FOR ALL! XDD

Of course, Loor is kinda just as guilty for wanting him, despite the fact that he's taken... .

MEOW!

-Loor


	45. Hands To Hold

**CLEANED UP**

**Clean up notes for this chapter: **Pretty much new content; had a little fun with Jak's POV.

**I do not own Jak and Daxter. MEROW. **

**Vacation or War  
****Chapter Forty Five- Hands to Hold**

Loor had returned to the underground as quickly as she was able, feeling like she needed to be bashing her head against a wall. How _dare_ she? What the hell was she even thinking, telling him in the most basic sense how she knew what was going on? It was so easy to trust him, but she'd forgotten that most human interactions were a two-way street. As much as she liked him and trusted him, it seemed he was right there with her. Not only that, he had been able to read her!

She must have been slipping. Her poker face was a thing she'd spent most of her life honing. To be read so easily...

Of course, she'd been off balance. But that didn't matter. Anger messed her up, but being nervous or even scared made her even better at what she did; hiding and deceiving. She didn't want to tell him any outright lies, but she might as well have been an open book for how that situation went.

_You can't be doing this. _She felt like she was shaking herself by the shoulders, her own thoughts in the most hostile tone. She'd gotten back by now, losing her sodden clothes and finding that there'd been a type of line hung up in front of the wood burning stove in the back corner that Torn's shirt was already hanging on. She moved to follow the example, only taking long enough to note the tattooed wonder was asleep in his bunk before stripping down to her underwear. _It isn't right on so many levels it's not even fucking funny. He's taken, he's not yours. You **can't** have him. Don't even fucking think about it. _

She had been expecting a fight for some reason, but found her head strangely silent. It disturbed her as she hung up her dripping shirt and pants, following up with socks and then, after some thought, going back and fetching her blanket to cover up with before also pulling off her underwear. She hadn't realized, but since Lyra had emerged... she'd stopped talking to herself. Oh, she talked to _Lyra_ plenty, yes, but her usual behavior of having arguments with her _own_ psyche had ceased.

She had been going crazy before the eco split her brain apart, more effectively than any psychosis would have.

But without a fight she was just telling herself not to think about it... when she most certainly couldn't stop herself from thinking about it. Such thoughts made her quite giddy with a strange type of glee. What if she'd stayed there, wrapped around his hips? What if she'd kissed him when she felt the urge? He would have been quite alright with it, clearly...

She felt her gut tighten, heat bubbling up as she imagined just how such things could have gone.

She felt her knuckles across her brow again without even consciously considering it. "Gah!" She yelped, rubbing the spot while hiking up the blanket she'd taken as cover with her other hand, walking back to her bunk to lay down. "Damnit... I really need to pick a side for myself or I'm gonna cause some serious head trauma..."

Falling into bed, she nuzzled into her pillow and pinned her hands underneath, once again trying to figure out what needed to be done. The facts were already staring her in the face; she'd gone way too far in befriending Jakkie-boy, now stuck in the hard place between friendly and friendly-er. She hadn't meant to; but that wasn't the point. She'd already seen that he'd do his best to protect her if she didn't seem able to handle herself, so the best course of action would be to prove herself able. She just had to keep her head up, keep moving forward, and not do anything _stupid. _

_What about Keira?_ She wondered to herself. The blue haired mechanic and Jakkie-boy were soon to have their little spat, and Loor really didn't wanna be there to be identified as a possible 'other woman' in the equation. Not only would it put the pre-ordained relationship on even shakier ground than it was on already, but Keira might refuse to work with her, and she was currently Loor's ticket home... or at least her best shot at booking one.

She shut her eyes, shaking her head. She felt like she was throwing her brain against a brick wall; the ideas that usually bounced about her brain simply stopping at the questions. There were no answers, not even bad ones. She had nothing to fight.

She cursed into her pillow. Had a thinking partner in her brain really been that important to her?

Her eyes closed; she decided to enter her mind. It was something that was becoming increasingly natural; forgoing the process of falling asleep to enter the room she'd come to know. One second she was laying on her firm bunk in the underground, wrapped in a scratchy blanket with a flat pillow under her face. The next, she was on plush green carpeting with a silken blanket, dressed in her robe and wrapped around a violet pillow that was almost too comfy to be true.

And looking up, she found Lyra waiting for her. The animal was still held captive and looked ultimately helpless, but Lauren knew better than to believe. She had eco in her body again, and she was convinced the beast was playing possum to try and surprise her the moment she let her guard down.

Lyra's head didn't lift, but her general awareness stirred. _**Getting lonely again? **_

_Hardly. _Loor got up from the floor, approaching the animal with her fists clenched. She stood perhaps a foot away from the wall that the creature had been tied to, eying the fact that she was totally lax while being strung up like this. And maybe she didn't care; this was just her mental personification, a few impulses that came together to give her form in this place. What was she, truly? She'd taken some of the gray matter for herself, but it was the eco that really made up the creature. _I've decided to give you another try. _

This got her head to come up a little, black eyes glinting under her hair as her ears flattened back, fangs showing as she growled. _**Don't toy with me. You have no intention of freeing me... or I would have sensed it. **_

_It's really more partial than that. _Lauren clasped her hands behind her back, looking up and managing a small smile. _I know how to block your take-overs... your influence and emotions, but I need __**you. **__My thoughts are running like a three-legged-dog, missing the power to actually reason out anything. I need you to argue with me. _

_**Oh-ho! The girl finally realized she can't do this all by her lonesome... since without me it's only half of you. But, seeing as I'm still mad at you, what makes you think I'll co-operate with you? Now that I know what you want, wouldn't it be the logical thing for me not to give it to you? **_

_You're not logical. It's not in your nature. I don't think you have the capacity to shut up, even if you wanted to. _She was staring up at the creature, her lips still smiling but her eyes hard and serious. _I know the second I let you piggy-back on my conscious brain again, you'll have something to say about every little thing that I do. Fine. That's exactly what I need when I've got the time to talk to you, but if you try shoving me around again... I'll learn how to do this on my own and make sure the only time you see the outside world is when you're saving this pitiful shell from certain doom._

**_Last I heard, that was the only time I was going to get a breath of fresh air anyway._** She had lifted her head a bit more, making eye-contact with her host and letting out a bestial chuckle. **_Do tell me what I am to lose if I decide to... 'shove you around' as it were._**

_Simple. Once I get home and figure out how to create eco without pissing of some precursor device, I'll be able to make all we need to survive. You work nicely with me here, I'll take on more when we get back... and I'll find some place to let you loose on a regular basis. _

_**The lady does know me... **_Lyra's laugh turned into a purr. **_And since you're the more trustworthy of the two of us, I'll have to believe you mean what you say for the moment. Alright... let us try again. _**

Loor nodded slowly, turning her mind to the bounds that kept Lyra away from her. They seemed to grow out of the wall, and they vanished in the same fashion that they had trapped the beast in the first place. They broke apart and receded, allowing the animal to drop to the floor and stretch, claws leaving marks in the floor that would be forgotten in moments.

It was in the first of those moments that Lyra turned upon Loor and leapt at her. She wasn't hostile, but she did bear Loor down to the floor and into a pile of bedding, holding the girl's arms and grinning in her face.

_**Now then... let us talk. **_

It was much like the night previous; coming in contact with Lyra made Loor join her once more in sensing emotions and thoughts, and if she thought Lyra was going crazy before she was dead wrong. The overload of feelings, all things that forced their way into Lauren's head and tore her between screaming and swooning, made the room dim around them as she forgot about it. There was nothing left aside from Lyra and her intense lust for any creature that would receive her affections.

Lauren knew Lyra would be upset at the missed opportunity, but she hadn't predicted such a rush... such a _need. _

Her laugh came again, that hissing animal-like giggle that showed Lyra was just as aware of Loor's naïve surprise... and most entertained by it. The dark creature took initiative from it, keeping her hold on Loor's arms and pinning them up and over the child's head. And here, in this mental landscape, she was but a child. Still her younger, innocent self.

That child bit back a cry of horror as the animal bit at her shoulder, the bite not being a damaging thing. No blood was struck, just a red welt that the beast sucked on before moving up to the girl's ear, nibbling there and still giggling as her host attempted in vain to get away.

_**Do you know what it means? **_Lyra questioned while moving to the other side of the girl's neck. **_The fact that you can't push me off? _**Her fangs were used to drag along her skin, leaving red lines behind. _**You like this... perhaps not me, but you enjoy the concept of being touched. **_

_Get off of me! _

* * *

Jak had waited a long time before moving to return to the underground. He'd spent some time to think about what Loor had told him; the idea that she knew everything that was supposed to happen through some story... and she was hell-bent to keep things from changing; it was pretty crazy, but he could understand and accept it. It explained why she acted so strangely sometimes, how she knew how to tactfully handle some missions but still had trouble with actually pulling things off, or how she understood things in concept but not quite in practice.

But supposedly she also knew that he was still supposed to be sweet on Keira... and when he thought of his old friend there were certainly some feelings there, feelings that may have become a lot more if he'd never left Sandover. But he remembered, rather sorely, how Keira had reacted when Daxter mentioned what had been done to him.

At the mention of eco, she'd flinched back. In the midst of reaching for him, possibly to hug him after all the time they'd been separated, she yanked her hand back and looked at him with fear.

He and she got back together after that? He felt like cursing himself for stupidity he hadn't yet committed. Part of him became determined to spite something that was 'supposed' to happen, but he restrained the urge.

As Loor had said; things had only worked out one way. He'd have to forget what she'd told him and just treat things normally as they came down the pipe. It would be best not to over-think things.

He arrived back at the underground and found the little clothesline that was hanging in front of the stove in the back, getting rid of his wet things and hanging them up with everyone else's.

Stripped, he stood in front of the stove, feeling a certain reluctance to just go to bed. Tomorrow would be a new day, with new goals and needs to be fulfilled, and more than likely he and Loor would be fighting side-by-side again.

How could this _not_ get awkward?

If she had just let that kiss happen... He imagined where that would have gotten them; not exactly a positive place, but at least better than the both of them being unsure on where the line really was. Oh it had been made clear that they liked each other, and physical attraction was obvious, but it seemed like that stuff wasn't going to matter just because of what Loor knew... and her awareness of Keira. It felt like she was forbidding even trying just because of what was 'meant' to be.

He scoffed. Meant to be? Since when did he buy into any destiny bullshit? Furthermore, who said this little episode had to get settled right at that moment? All he needed to know right now was who his friends were, and who needed to get dead. The rest could be settled after the victory party.

Turning on his heel, he walked for his bunk and felt something of a smile take. It wasn't powerful enough to break his slightly angry disposition on the outside, but he still felt it. He'd learned enough for tonight; she _was_ attracted to him. She was just making excuses not to show it.

And once all this bullshit was over, they'd figure out just how justified those excuses were.

About to climb the ladder up to his bunk, he stopped. It was quiet in the underground aside from the occasional crackle of the fire and the growl of Torn snoring; Daxter was with Tess so his evening sounds were missing from the din, but Jak was disturbed by a sound that had been added, not taken away.

Loor had made a strange noise. Strangled and quiet, he looked to see her rolling over in her bunk. She'd detached from her pillow, holding her blanket tightly, as if it were a shield of some sort. Rolling over to her belly, a view of her back alerted him that she was without undergarments, making another noise that was more drawn out; whining into her mattress.

He blinked, watching her for a moment before drawing his blanket off of his bed to cover up; if she was having a nightmare it was likely that she'd been unable to block Lyra out of her head completely. If that was the case, he'd wake her. He wouldn't be able to sleep if he had to listen to her having terrors.

Coming down from the ladder, she'd gone quiet for a few moments before curling up with her blanket, getting tangled up in the rough cloth while gasping softly, major muscles such as her shoulder and bicep twitching like she was trying to throw something off but just couldn't move.

Then she made a new sound; a drawn out groan that he first assumed was a sound of pain... but didn't sound quite right. The quality was different. Whatever was happening to her mentally, she certainly wasn't happy about it, but that wasn't a noise of torture. He'd heard every whimper and squeal in the book while in prison...

But that noise made him stare as she continued to fight with her blanket. Perhaps it was still a nightmare she was having, but Lyra wasn't ripping her apart.

With a final gasp she sat up quickly, waking and blinking away whatever after-image remained of the place she'd been within her mind. She didn't even notice him standing there, watching as she bowed her head and struck herself several times, growling to herself.

"Stay out of there...!" She muttered, pure hatred in her voice. "...just stay out of those thoughts! Leave that one corner alone!"

She had both fists working on her skull, and it seemed as if she _wanted_ to cause some damage.

"Please don't do that."

Her head jerked up as he came to grab her wrists and stop her. He was kneeling on the end of her bed, having moved quickly to restrain her, pulling her arms down to keep her hands away from her head. In touching her he could feel the burn of eco in her blood; the activity of her other self working hard on the inside to drive her totally mad. Such a spark made it harder for him; a constant burden to contain his own darker being. Eco was an attraction they shared, but thankfully he was low enough of the substance that Dark hadn't a chance of pushing him around.

For the moment.

She didn't say anything to him. She just sat there, at first pulling against his hands but then letting her body go lax. After a moment, he let go and backed off, sitting in front of her and waiting for her to lay back again. Usually she'd want to go outside and walk, but now was not the time to be doing so... plus everyone's clothes were sopping wet and hanging up to dry.

Silence drug on, her hands slowly shifting to her lap, laying out and then gathering up into fists before relaxing again.

She then reached for one of his hands, holding it and spreading out his fingers. He didn't know why she was doing it, but simply watched as she played with it, bending each knuckle in turn, rotating his wrist and inspecting his skin. Maybe she was just occupying herself, giving her own hands something to do as her mind once again toiled away.

"I can't lock her out, Jak." She finally murmured. "I can't think without her... but with her... I show too much of myself. I... the things she wants me to do... I want them too, but –"

"_Shh..." _He hushed her, his other hand smoothing her damp hair back before laying over her fingers, causing her hands to still. "We don't have to do anything till it's over. We'll talk then. For now, we're partners. Friends. We work together, we keep our asses out of the fire, and survive till it's all over."

Her head and eyes were still down; she wasn't looking at him as she nodded. The bob of her head was hardly noticeable. "I need to control myself."

"Why?" He managed a small smirk. "Around me, I'd rather you be yourself... I'd count myself lucky to have such a cute stalker. Might as well get to know her."

It was quiet for a few moments as she lifted her head, green and purple eyes glaring as she tightened her fingers under his hand. "I suggest you remove yourself from my bunk before I bite you."

He snickered at her, giving her a shove back into her pillow before moving to go to bed.

* * *

**The Author's Corner**

So yeah... on vacation... and yet I'm still working.

Why? Because I have a laptop? I guess... meow.

Hope you enjoyed.

Gonna kill my boyfriend. Just saying; we finally get back together, have a little fun (I won't go into all the details but to say he's gotten a LOT better at going down on me) and yet when I'm practically begging for him he wouldn't screw me; just because he wanted to be a tease and we had someplace to be in like an hour.

Well my period showed up the next fucking day. Yeah. Murder. We're now staying with his brother and sister-in-law, who have two small children who NEVER give us any time alone... even though my period is over we're STILL stuck beating around the bush. I swear I'm gonna drag him out somewhere and jump the fucker...

Loor really needs to get laid people. Seriously. Meow.

See you next time punks,

-Loor


	46. A Friendly Enemy

**CLEANED UP**

**Clean-up notes for this chapter:** Another practically new chapter... having quite a bit of fun with Errol, even though he's difficult to write in a controlled environment. XP

**Disclaimer: I don't own Jak and Daxter. **

**Vacation or War  
****Chapter Forty Six- A Friendly Enemy**

Loor was awake long before anyone else; this was because she'd hardly been able to sleep. What few moments she'd spent resting had left her at the mercy of her subconscious, and the dreams she'd experienced were things she'd never relay to anyone.

Old flights of fancy had come back to her as Lyra dug them out of the shameful vault she liked to lock them away in, given a new realistic light in her growing knowledge. To escape she'd chosen to sit up and stay awake rather than allow herself to be tormented. Usually such dreams were fun, even something the girl would induce in the past, and they certainly held those qualities... but she'd finally established that even _thinking_ that way was very wrong. Thus it was torture in the way that her body reveled in fantasy while her conscious mind tried to wrench away and detach.

Still... at a previous time she would have awoken with only a blush-worthy memory. This was no longer true.

No. She awoke warm and desperate for physical attention. It was a new disposition that she was hardly used to or ready for, wrapping up in her blanket and pacing the center aisle between everyone's bunks to try and dispel it. Time and again she checked her clothes to see if they were dry enough to wear, but it was a testament to how little sleep she'd gotten before giving up; her things were still dripping.

_Partners. Friends._ She reminded herself. His words exactly; he was right. Now was not the time to do anything. She needed to ignore these sensations, these feelings coursing through her body.

She just wanted to be able to stop them; she knew what was happening on an intellectual level. Her body had matured; she was a strapping young lady according to her physical age. And as such, her hormones had changed accordingly, making a previous fangirly infatuation turn into a desperate desire.

She figured since she knew what was happening, she should have been able to put a stop to it. Control it.

But of course, we all know that's impossible. One can't control their hormonal state of being any more than they can control the whether. Loor was left to frustration, feeling like the world was being terribly unfair to her. Not that she was going to complain about that; she never balked at unfairness in the universe since it was a simple fact that life wasn't fair. Ever. Granted her life had branched into a whole new _world_ of unfair, but she would rather prove her salt and deal with it rather than curl up and cry about how unfair it was.

So instead she stopped pacing, returned to her bunk, and stared at the bunk above her. She expected she'd either doze off or someone would wake up and give her a reason to deal with her damp clothes.

She was surprised when, several hours of staring later, her comm. started going off. She hadn't been absolutely sure it was her unit at first; her belt was hung up with everyone else's things, all of her effects still inside, but the buzzing noise of the little communications item got her out of bed again to check and verify. Indeed it was her unit, perking her curiosity since very few people had her new number. Jak of course, and Vin, but the only other person she'd given her new number was...

"Keira? It's a bit early for our appointment."

Oddly enough, the blue haired mechanic on the other end of the line looked like she hadn't slept much better than Loor had. _"I know, but the class two races are today and that precursor artifact you were after just arrived. I figured if you could come down now it would fit into my schedule a bit better. Is that alright?" _

Loor didn't even have to think about it, nodding vigorously while smiling. "That's great. I'll be right down. Don't crack that puppy open till I'm there, kay?"

"_Well hurry up!" _Keira was clearly excited too, but for different reasons than Loor. _"I got all the tools ready to go." _

"See you soon." Was all Loor said before cutting the connection and checking her effects again; still a little damp and cold, but she'd deal with it. She suited up quickly while smiling to herself. She forgot about her inner turmoil as she reveled in the feeling of coming discovery. There was something about puzzling things out that made her downright giddy, and she felt that she now had all the pieces.

Dressed, tying on her scarf last and fluffing the tail behind her head with her hair, she turned to get to the door and leave.

Today was going to be very exciting.

* * *

Loor had stopped in the doorway into Keira's garage. The trip over had been quiet, neigh on boring, the sun's first light a distant consideration in the navy-colored sky. Very few people walked around in the streets, the most common pedestrians being KG members... which led to Loor sticking to upper-area traffic and doing her best to try and blend in with other drivers. The stadium was by far the most active area with the doors open and lights flooding the square as a crew worked to get ready for the up and coming race.

She'd ignored them, trotted up the stairs, taken the turn over to the garages, and stopped like she'd run headlong into a wall. The door to Keira's garage was open, and Keira was ready for her; a whole workbench had been cleared of other projects so Loor's device could sit in pieces next to another, larger, piece of equipment. It looked like a big bronze drum with one slightly flatter, yet still curved, side. A harness was on it that led to a winch; Keira hadn't been able to get it onto the table without mechanical help. The flatter side had a panel fixed to it, a few indicator lights and switches dotting the surface along with several shunting cables that crisscrossed along the lower edge.

The mechanic was wearing a leather tool belt to have her devices closer at hand, and several more items were on the table and ready for use. The girl was ready to get some serious stuff done.

But that wasn't why Loor stopped and stared into the garage.

Standing with Keira was a person that threw Loor's brain into total lock. It made her want to curse for forgetting, since she should have known there was a chance of his presence, but for the moment she hadn't the capacity to do anything.

Errol stood over Keira's shoulder, smirking at her arrival.

"Loor!" Keira grinned. "C'mon, the sooner we take a look at this the sooner I can carve it up for parts!"

"What is _he_ doing here?" Loor questioned, not moving to enter the garage. Her poisonous tone caused Errol to chuckle at her.

"Huh?" Keira looked back at the psychotic KG. "Oh, Errol's the one who let me get my hands on this. Most precursor artifacts that get dug out are locked up by the Baron, but Errol was a sweetie and got it for us. You guys know each other?"

"Indeed we do." Errol said before Loor could say anything particularly sharp.

"How come you never said so?" Keira asked him. "If I'd known I would have been more willing to explain things to you."

"We don't get along." Loor said shortly, finally understanding what Errol was doing here. The guy had expressed utmost curiosity to her work once he'd been made aware of it. He knew that she'd managed to manufacture eco. That alone probably put him over the moon with wanting to know what else she was up to.

And with his connection to Keira, he had a front row seat to their research that Loor couldn't void.

"Why not?" Keira asked with the naïve voice of a child.

"Rivals rarely do." Errol said while giving a look to Loor. He expected her to play along with his little charade; he was willing to play friendly in front of Keira... as long as Loor cooperated with him. Keira didn't know that she was a fugitive or a victim of dark eco; if she wanted to keep it that way she'd have to dance to Errol's tune... or lose her chance at working with the expert in precursor technology.

Keira snapped a look to Loor as the girl finally took the steps necessary to enter the garage and get to the work table. "Rivals? Loor, you race?"

"I've got a little experience." The girl replied with a humble shrug. "Errol and I are usually... shooting partners. You could say he's been a real motivator for me."

"I knew you had it in you all along." The tattooed racer sneered, crossing his arms over his chest. "She gets better every time we meet."

Loor wanted to snarl at the tattooed KG commander, but knew that it would do nothing towards her goals. She needed whatever answers that were contained within the machine in front of her, and though she hated for Errol to be standing there to watch she couldn't let it stop her. She turned to the great hunk of precursor junk on the work table instead. "Let's get started. Where do we dig in?"

"I've already done the prep work on the face panel." Keira said while showing the flat face of the device was loose, looking like a guilty child. "I'm sorry, new stuff gets me excited."

"It's all good, let's get this part off. I can't make heads or tails of that anyway." Loor said this while sighting a set of work gloves on the bench and pulling them on; Keira already had a set on her belt that she was suiting up with as well. The two girls pulled the slab of metal up and off of the device, Loor noting that the switches and lights didn't seem to connect back into the main bit of the object. The only thing that had connected to it, aside from the faceplate being bolted down, were the shunting loops of wire.

"What exactly are you looking for, Loor?" Keira asked as they put the panel aside and came back to look at the large hunk of precursor bronze. Loor was leaning up to look for signs of heat damage; warping in the metal, things that would suggest the inside had actually melted as Keira had before described.

"Anything." She answered, tapping on the surface of the thing. The sound was solid on the edge, but she moved along the length and width of the thing, searching for the sound of bubbles. It was strange that the things on the face panel didn't have connections back into the system... if there had been a system. She kept tapping, putting her ear to it when the sound changed.

A hallow spot. A space inside. A bubble.

"Do you have any sort of scanner?" Loor asked, holding her hand where the sound changed. "Something that could detect spaces inside?"

Keira nodded, having such a device at hand. It was a hand-held item that looked like a metal detecting wand. Keira slid over the point Loor had indicated, blinking at the reading she got and doing it a few times more, each one slower, scrutinizing the results.

"Hold this." The blue haired mechanic commanded, moving as soon as Loor complied to go and pick up something else on the work bench. First she got another tool that looked like a large caliper, and then she went to the VC-M1's pieces and picked up the precursor ball they'd found inside. She used the caliper to measure the ball at several points, checking the device that Loor was holding for her and adjusting it now and again to make sure it was in the right spot.

After a few moments, she concluded this:

"It's the same size."

"What?" Loor asked, snapping a look at the girl. "How?"

"I'm not sure... But there's a hole in this machine that is the exact same size as this ball. Is... this what you were looking for? A connection between what happened to your device and whatever precursor item might be responsible?"

"That's part of it, but it still doesn't tell me how or why..." She let out a short and sharp sigh, sure that a major discovery was right under her nose... but she couldn't even think about it without glancing back at Errol and wondering if the psycho was putting together all the same puzzle pieces she was. This... thing was some sort of detection device. There were other ones like it all over the world to prevent something, but what?

She needed Errol out of the room before she'd be able to breathe.

"I'm going to take a look at that panel, see if I don't see anything familiar. I've seen more than my fair share of this stuff." Keira bustled her way over to the other side of the work table, setting to work on the piece they'd taken off. "Keep scanning that main bit... the book I was reading said it seemed like a previous mechanism had overloaded and melted together, but it takes the heat of a volcanic event to even come close to smelting precursor metals... See if you can find any other spaces."

"You don't think there's going to be any." Loor said while doing what she was told. Granted, she agreed. She didn't think there was going to be another space either; this wasn't a broken mechanism. The big drum of precursor bronze wasn't melted together and broken, but had a purpose in it's present form...

She looked back at Errol again, the guy smiling at her and even having the audacity to wink. "Please." He grinned. "Don't let me distract you, ladies. It's fascinating to watch."

"You _are_ distracting me." Loor said while turning away again. "Not used to having an audience."

"Would you rather I help?" His voice reminded her of the game of cat and mouse he was having ever so much fun playing with her. "I'm sure I could be a handy assistant."

"Sure," Keira's head twisted to smile at the guy, "you can come help me take this panel apart. I want to examine the connections."

"What for?" Loor asked to distract herself as Errol stepped up to the bench.

"I don't think that big part is the broken bit." Keira said. "It looks like a big hunk of misshapen metal, but honestly I think it's meant to be like that... which means the part that's not working is the panel. You find any more spaces yet?"

Loor returned to scanning. There were numbers across the broad side of the wand, and as she skimmed the object they didn't change unless she went back over the place they'd already discovered. She passed the middle, moving on to the other side, expecting not to find anything else.

She was surprised when the numbers changed again. "Keira."

The mechanic was at her side in a second, looking at the device and taking it from Loor for a few swipes. "Huh... this is a little funny..."

"What is it? Another ball?"

"No." Keira shook her head. "It's... I need some paper. Errol, take a look of this while I get some? Tell me what you make of it."

"Of course." He didn't have to be told twice, stepping up as Keira left to go root around for paper and something to write with behind her mysterious green curtain.

Loor, standing there, felt two conflicting compulsions. One told her to take five steps back and away from Errol, whilst the other told her to take a swing at him. Either one would give him the heads up that he was giving her a serious case of the nerves, so she just stood there, looking seriously at the machine. Her brain was firing off in several directions, looking for something she could say for the few moments Keira left them alone. She wanted to express her hostility, but also wanted to demand an explanation for his behavior.

She decided it was best to do both.

"What the fuck are you playing at here?" She growled softly.

"I imagine you've already figured out a few things in that intriguing mind of yours." He snickered, entertained by her attempt at strong words.

"What's the point of watching me work? Keira doesn't know or want to know any more than you do about what I'm doing. The secret to creating eco isn't here, and I'm not going to oust it even if you put a gun to my head."

"Oh, the time for those games are far past, I agree. You've proven yourself worth my interest and time, if not just to toy with before I kill you. As for _why_ I'm insistent on seeing you examine this machine, I have quite an intriguing mind as well. I'd dare say brilliant. This... device you made obviously did something you didn't mean it to do."

She didn't speak; she refused to confirm his theory.

"Oh, don't make me guess, little Loor. I hate to guess. I also hate to ask questions. Curiosity is for the clueless; I can ask you questions when you're strapped in to a chair and at my mercy."

"How am I _not_ at your mercy here?" She snapped, keeping her voice low. "Once slip to Keira, you could guarantee she'd never work with me again on the account of being a monster and a convict."

"Perhaps, but if she rejects you, I'll never see what you need to discover. If I let you act freely with her, I get the information I wanted all along. Of course, if you'd rather go back to prison... that could easily be arranged."

Practically blackmail; she hated the feeling. She felt trapped, cornered, holding out for those few seconds. Errol wanted to know what the VC-M1 had done besides making eco... and he had it so she'd have to tell him or never find the answers she wanted for herself. The threat was direct. If she didn't tell him he'd not only blow it with Keira, he'd have her back in that chair so fast it would make her head spin.

She stalled a moment more by swallowing. She didn't have a choice. She took a deep breath, trying to figure an abridged explanation...

When the blue haired mechanic came back, brandishing a pen and paper. "Found 'em!"

* * *

**The Author's Corner**

Oh my this is shaping up to be some serious fun. Errol is a much more powerful force in this story, and I am LOVING it. EEEP.

UM UM UM UM UM UM... Sleepy time.

Happy new year, see you next time punks.

-Loor


	47. Stalker Party

**CLEANED UP**

**Clean up notes for this chapter:** MOAR CONTENT! Yis, more new stuff... majorly new stuff. Holy shit. Didn't even mean to.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Jak and Daxter. Meow. **

**Vacation or War  
****Chapter Forty Seven- Stalker Party**

Keira had proven herself to be a creature of hidden skill, handling the scanner with one hand as the other hurriedly sketched the shape that was buried in the body of precursor metal. Loor and Errol watched the pen on the paper, forgetting their game in that one exciting moment of discovery. What was this new development? What did it mean?

Lauren's brain was working hard on both questions, but particularly the latter at the moment. A second shape in the precursor bronze meant that she wasn't the only one to do what she'd done. Someone else had accomplished making eco... and she should have expected that.

Someone in her time had known about all this, known it well enough to come back and tell the story. Her pride was hurt at first, seeing as she thought her theories and concepts were completely original, but that bruising didn't take precedence. No, the more important part was the one staring her in the face.

Whoever it was that had come before her had managed to get back and tell the story. Somehow, they'd returned. So, despite Errol's poisonous presence, she grinned as the drawing took shape.

That grin dampened when she saw what the shape was. It looked like a fork of lighting. An arc of eco power. It looked similar to an electrical arc, but to have it frozen in time highlighted the differences of mass and complexity. Electrical power had far more sparks that tried to escape every which way; eco was a cleaner line and more condensed, the threads of jumping energy thicker.

"Looks like someone had a little accident." Errol theorized.

Loor snarled, upset that he said it first. That was the same idea that popped into her head; someone had made eco, but under far less controlled conditions. They'd ended up with the unstable form.

"Keira." Loor said quickly. "If someone got hit with this amount of eco, in this form, how badly would it hurt them?"

"Huh? Oh... well, contamination and burns for sure. Probably irreversible... so they'd be dying."

"How quickly would they be dying?" She demanded. "Assuming they didn't go to a doctor or anything? On their own, how fast would they go?"

"Without medical help?" Keira shook her head, frowning. She must have been wondering who would be dumb enough not to go to a doctor when contaminated. "It would depend on their natural resistance, but... maybe six months? A year? Somewhere in there. Longer if they used regular green eco doses to try and heal the dying tissues. I'd say two years, tops."

"Two years..." The girl repeated, stepping away, thinking.

"What makes you assume the person who did this was in contact with the charge?" Keira asked. "Oh... is that something you didn't want to mention? I'm sorry."

"It's fine." Loor was shaking her head. Two years. Two years was more than enough. It would have taken all of a week to tell someone the story, a year to make sure all the details were just right while the game was in production. Also, her own breed of human had a high resistance to eco. The person could still be alive. Probably very sick, but alive. "Did you figure anything out with the panel?"

"Not yet." Keira sighed, shaking her head. "I'll need to take the whole thing apart, and that's going to take some time... but our time is just about up."

"Eh?" Loor looked at the mechanic girl. "What's up?"

Keira broke in to a huge smile. "I gotta go pick someone up. Then the races will be starting soon. If you wanna hang out and work after, you're welcome, but I gotta go. Be back soon"

She didn't take a moment more to stall, going by Loor and out of the garage.

Loor wondered to herself who Keira was going to get, but then remembered; the races. The class two races would be starting soon, and Samos's elder version was present in the scene beforehand. Keira must have heard that he was found and stayed awake the whole night before, excited to see him but waiting till a particular time to get him.

"So you're going to go looking for a dead man now." Errol concluded his own thoughts outloud. "Or woman; perhaps the true genius line lurks in gender. You and Keira have certainly done well enough for yourselves."

The girl rounded to look at Errol, who was in no rush to go anywhere. Of course not; he knew Jak would be coming here to see Keira before the race, and he wanted to taunt the blond youth. Still, she didn't care about that right now. Errol brought up an excellent point; was she really looking for a dead man? That all relied on a question that only the man in charge of the dark warrior program could answer.

"Was I contaminated? When the guard found me, it should have been my left hand if anything. Was I?"

"Oh-ho, you're interrogating _me _now." He smirked. "But I imagine that answer is certainly worth something."

He was offering a trade of information.

"You've got the upper hand in this situation." She admitted. "You first."

He blinked; perhaps be hadn't been expecting that. Still, for the moment, he yielded. He actually smiled at her. "Indeed you were. Minor burns, and even more mild contamination. Interestingly enough, it wasn't spreading particularly fast. Perhaps at a tenth of the speed it would have tainted another. It's what made you and your precious sister our prime new subjects with the IV branch of the program."

She nodded, taking the information with a grim face. Not a dead man then, just a sick one. How sick, she had no idea. It would all depend when the first contamination was, and how severe. She didn't know the power difference between plasma eco and liquid eco. All the variables would drive her quite insane if she took the time to focus on them, but that was for a different time.

Right now, Errol was staring her down, waiting for her to reciprocate. He'd given her an answer, now she owed him one in return. He'd already made the one he wanted quite clear; he wanted to know what else the VC-M1 had done, why she was going to all this trouble to find what had happened to it.

"I'm not from Haven city." She said quickly to begin. She'd formulated what she was going to say; she wouldn't tell much of the truth beyond that. She'd feed him a line about being from somewhere else but not remembering much, relying on the good-old and infallible power of memory loss through traumatic events. There was no way he could prove her wrong.

She was about to dive in when he stopped her, wearing that superior smirk again. "I don't want to know about that anymore. I have a theory of what that device of yours did, and my ideas will make do for now. But there's another matter entirely that I'd like to know about. You've saved my life on a few occasions now. First from your sister when you first escaped; she could have ripped me apart. Then from Jak. I imagine if I ended up with a gun pointed to my head in any situation involving you, you'd be compelled to save me... which is most interesting when you've insisted you'd like to put a bullet between my eyes yourself."

"Some question as to why?" She felt like snarling, but her angry energy would be her downfall if she didn't rein herself in. She'd turn too honest if she got mad. She had to focus, and speak quickly. "This war will end soon. You play a part in that ending. You need to be alive to play it."

He was surprised by her again; the answer was blunt and yet unclear. "And you know how this all ends?"

She snorted, moving for the door to finally leave. She had no wish to be in the garage when Jak showed up. "You only get one answer from me." She said while practically walking backwards for the way out, refusing to turn her back on him. She knew better; he'd made it clear he had no intentions of repaying her for saving his life. Now that Keira had stepped out for the moment, she imagined he wouldn't mind doling out some mad-man oppression.

She could see he was certainly considering it, but she feared he was thinking about other things as well. She had no doubt that he'd be able to piece together some of her story through the little information he'd gotten, and already she could see those wheels were turning.

She needed to get away from him before she could betray anything more. She'd managed to keep it all fairly quiet... but she was a loudmouth by nature. When it came to people she didn't like, information they didn't have that she did made her feel big... but of course they didn't know just how big she felt until she told them why. A piece of her wanted to get right in his face and tell him he was a dead man walking, it just had to wait till the opportune time.

But she bit her tongue and ducked out the door, turning and walking quickly to get away from the garage.

* * *

"Loor?"

The girl hadn't run far, getting to the bottom of the stadium steps and stopping to catch her nervous breath there. How long she'd stood there, trying to calm her heart, was anyone's guess. As long as her eardrums were beating with her pulse she couldn't care less about the flow of time. Of course, she'd been called out of the deep meditative breaths she'd been taking long before she'd made any headway with her frantic condition.

Looking up, she saw Jak on the approach, Daxter on his shoulder and looking curious as to why she was so distressed. It was the ottsel that had called her name, Jak looking off to the side to avoid immediate eye-contact. "Babe!" Daxter greeted once she looked up. "You alright?"

"Uh..." She was looking at Jak at first, worried for him after the interesting night they'd had. She felt they'd ended on a fairly sunny note, but the fact that he was evading her gaze made her wonder if something else had come up in his mind that he felt needed resolution. "Good enough. Alive. In one piece. Which is positive, all things considered."

"You should get moving." Jak suggested. "The race is soon. If you want a decent seat..."

"Oh _no." _She snorted, shaking her head. Errol would be in to watch the race, to see how the competition for the final race was shaping up, and she didn't have any wish to spend more time in the company of that psycho... even if it was in the company of several hundred other people. "I'm going to stay right here till you boys walk out with trophy in hand, 'kay? I won't cause any trouble."

"That'll be a first." Dax snickered, fuzzy mug composed in a mischievous grin. "Alright, you can miss out on all the fun. C'mon Jak, let's go see the lady in charge and blow their socks off."

Jak had stopped trying to keep his eyes down, giving a suspicious look to Loor the moment she said she wasn't going to go anywhere. It wasn't like her to be hiding. It was a thing of her die-hard pride that made her face nearly anything, and here she was with her back against a wall as if she were worried something was going to come out and chew on her butt. He had clearly noted these facts and was giving her the stare-down.

She caught it, having been learning his non-verbal cues through their various encounters. All she could offer in explanation was a helpless shrug that told him he'd find out once he went up to the garage.

With nothing else to do, he broke off and started walking up the steps to the stadium. Loor stayed put, driving the heels of her hands into her eyes. Jak had asked her to stop hitting herself, but she had to occupy her hands and physically express her frustration somehow.

_Too damn smart for my own fucking good. It'll take a frontal lobotomy and some lead paint before I stop wanting to show off. _

_**That wasn't the urge to show off...**_

Loor nearly flinched, forgetting the freedom she'd granted Lyra... a freedom she mostly regretted giving back to the animal.

_**You didn't want to brag, you wanted to threaten him into submission to make him take you seriously. Honestly, you'll never win any respect with words. I think he's the one who'll need the lobotomy with a bullet before he takes you seriously. **_

_I shouldn't even be trying. If I foretold his death to him, I might give him a chance to avoid it. Jak needs that explosion at the end of the finals to get away from the Baron with his head attached. _

_**A pity, really. I'd rather if we were the ones to do the deed. **_

Loor felt her physical body snort, though she'd surrendered most of her awareness to speak with her other self. _Why? You have him to thank for your existence. _

_**Yes... a pitiful existence trapped within a pathetic mind, full of annoying cross-purposes and safeguards. It is nice to have a mind of my own, rather than being just a shattered part of yours, but I would have preferred a body of my own. If he had better contained you for longer a greater part of your make-up would have become eco... and the upper hand would have been mine. **_

_Last time I'm nice to you... _

_**Last suggests there was a first. We struggle with civil. **_

"Civil..." The girl snorted. The very idea of Lyra being anything close to civil was worth a laugh. _Forgetting that; there's another living person who's done what I've done. They've come here, seen all of Jak's adventure, and gotten back. Now I generally don't think about fringe sciences such as time travel, but that's basically what we're dealing with here... I need to find the guy while he's still here and hitch a ride back._

_**Wouldn't he take you too far back? If he is here, he'd be going back in time to create the story you know and love. And whose to say he's even here at this current time? **_

_He had to witness everything somehow; things have matched up too perfectly to suggest otherwise. I guess he could have come later and heard the stories, but dialog and such have matched up with a scary amount of accuracy... on the other hand, if this person had mastered going back and forth, they could have heard the stories at a later time and come back at the right points in history to make sure the tiny details were right. _

_**So we're looking for someone who's totally obsessed. Someone who worships those two and all they've done. **_

_You mean someone like me. _

_**Not quite... the person you're looking for is likely sick. Eco contamination doesn't bother you anymore because your body has bonded with the substance, but I would assume this third party has not had the pleasure of Errol's toys in the fortress. **_

_Party...? _A thought stuck Loor that had her glance around anxiously for a moment; if someone was watching Jak... what if it was more than one someone? It would make some sense, different faces were harder to notice, and different people could have different positions within the city from which to watch. Now that she thought of it, someone with the most optimal access to a lot of Jak's story would be someone inside the Krimzon guard, but the rest would best be taken down by a townie with an all-access pass to the city, with a lot of friends in a lot of places. Her mind went off like a machine gun clattering through a clip as she considered how one would stalk the dynamic duo without being noticed. Could it be done by just two? Or would it take more people in more places to remain unnoticed?

Loor got the brief sense of Lyra's purring growl in-between the sudden chaotic bursts. She seemed pleased to have set off such a chain reaction of ideas. Perhaps she shared the rush Loor got out of it.

And it was a rush when she came to this shocking thought; she knew a guard. Someone on the inside who didn't seem quite right for the situation...

But it wasn't possible...

"Hey, Loor!"

The girl snapped her head around as she was called out yet again, this time by a light and airy voice that only added to her shock. She turned to see her friend the KG, Ryan. The guy was dressed in civilian clothes and looked elated to see her, arms wide for an impending hug as he came up quickly. She didn't fight the hug, but she didn't answer his greeting either.

Someone in the guard.

Someone who had access to subjects within the Dark Warrior program.

Someone who had saved her device for her, not even knowing what it was.

Someone who had seen her land and simply accepted it.

Someone who had risked their neck to save her, and the secrets of her device, from getting discovered by the wrong people.

"Ryan..." Loor spoke as the tall man held her in a bone-crushing embrace, though her voice was even and calm. "How long have you lived in Haven?"

* * *

**The Author's Corner**

Ryan... my oh my your character just got a LOT more important.

Someone review once in a while... please.

-Loor


	48. Closing In

**CLEANED UP**

**Clean up notes for this chapter: **Another practically new chapter; I didn't have Loor race for Daxter... just because it felt unnatural. . Meow.

**Disclaimer: I don't own Jak and Daxter, I cannot and will not publish this story for profit. **

**Vacation Or War  
****Chapter Forty Eight- Closing In**

Ryan's arms tightened for a moment, a shock reaction, before he chuckled and put her down. Loor crossed her arms, looking up at him with a tight frown of suspicion, and he guessed he deserved that. Sure, he'd told her some of his reasons for helping her, but not all of them. His smile didn't break as he rubbed the back of his head, a little embarrassed he didn't see this coming so soon.

"Heh... Morgan told me you were smart."

Loor's face got harder, resisting the urge to ask who Morgan was and instead repeating her original question. "How long, Ryan?"

The tall KG took a moment to think, his customary smile fading, and then nodded slightly. "I think... six years now? Six and a half."

"And where were you from before that?" The girl demanded. "How did you get here?" Her voice had sunk a few tones and turned powerful as she commanded information, her small form still a vehicle for intimidation as her muscles tensed. She felt like she could take down just about anyone now, even Ryan, in her thirst for information.

"We really shouldn't talk here..."

"Then where? When?" She maintained her intensity, having a brief sense of him backing off a step as she advanced. She didn't view him as a human being at the moment; he was more like a walking textbook, someone with answers that she needed to access at all costs. A refusal to co-operate unlocked a sudden rage, and with it came the sparks that danced on her spine, making her feel dangerous.

"Honey, take it easy..." He cautioned, noting his mistake in giving her space and coming back to hold her shoulders. "This is way too public... and Morgan will really explain it better than I can. She remembers all of it."

"Who is Morgan?"

Ryan allowed himself a smile; a new piece of the truth was allowed to come loose now. It was clear that he'd helped her all those times not because he was insanely friendly and naïve, but because he knew where she and her sister had come from. He'd seen the device, Loor's landing, and known what had happened, endeavoring to help. Still, the tall KG had risked his life and given up his place in the guard to save Loor, and one didn't usually do that for a new acquaintance unless they had a reason.

"She's my big sister."

All of the aggressive wind was taken out of Loor's sails, staring up and blinking.

He was the same. He'd come here with a family member, or someone close enough to be considered one, and done everything necessary to survive while trying to figure everything else out. The only difference, so far, was that Loor had lost her little sister.

Ryan was clearly alive and well, but Loor had a feeling that Morgan wasn't. She didn't see anything that looked like it could be contamination on Ryan, which meant Morgan was the sick person she was after. The brains of the operation and likely the leader, pulling all the strings in trying to get herself and her brother home.

"We live in south town. Here, lemme have your comm. unit."

She complied, not really thinking about it. Too many things were bouncing off of her brain at once. A reminder of Fury mixed with the would-be excitement over finally getting a fix on a person who would have answers for her. It made it all numb and dull; Ryan taking her communications device and swapping numbers so she could locate him later. Soon the device was back in her hand, and in her pouch once more.

"Are you going to watch the race?" Ryan asked, drawing her attention to the now empty city square; all the people had left to take their seats in the stadium. Things would be starting very soon; if she wanted a decent seat she would have to run, and she'd have to do it now. Still, she maintained her opinion from before; she had no compulsion to get within several hundred feet of Errol unless it couldn't be avoided.

"No thanks." She said with a huffy shrug, finally getting some sass back. "I'll pass."

He looked as if he wanted to argue with her, then shook his head while moving to go and see the event. She didn't watch him go, wanting to bang her head against the wall even more than before. Answers were closer than ever before, she'd been handed the person she needed, and now she had to _wait!_ Who was Morgan? If she and Ryan had only lived in Haven for six years, why didn't Ryan remember just where they came from?

She was on the verge of so much, it made her body tingle and her fingers twitch. Energized, she had the desperate desire to get up and do something. It was the type of energy that she would start new projects with at home, throwing herself at a problem without the slightest hesitation, made hyper and giddy by her enthusiasm.

Someone clasped her shoulder from behind, making her yelp while jumping in a 180.

Oh, and a tad jumpy.

She landed to find Jak behind her, having taken a step back as she did her 'pop goes the weasel' act. He looked irritated, now compacted with surprise at her violent reaction to him trying to gently get her attention. "Jeez, what's got you worked up?"

"I- oh, um, it's nothing." She shook her head, forgoing any confused responses as her brain started working in front of her mouth. "What are you doing out here? You're supposed to be in there." She said this while pointing back to the stadium. It was true, his comments after the race made it clear he'd been watching as Daxter piloted a vehicle several times larger than himself. She wasn't sure what kind of impact it might have on the rest of the story, but she'd already explained to him that following the original was the best course of action.

"Why?" He snapped quickly, reminding her that he'd just come from a spat with Keira, the blue-haired mechanic first swooning over Errol and then turning around and telling Jak that his methods for getting to the Baron were all wrong in her eyes. The guy was a raw nerve. "So I can watch as _she_ hops in to take my place? She can race anything she's built, I don't doubt it."

"She can't because it's _her_ team." Loor lacked patience in her current mood, quickly snapping back at him. "She threw Dax in to race for you!"

That made him hold for a moment. "Dax...?" He glanced up the steps to the stadium, considering his options.

"You should be up there, cheering him on." She said in a tone that sounded more like an order than a statement.

He hesitated still, looking at her seriously. Loor could tell what was on his mind; he was wondering how the hell he wound up with Keira in the end when they were having such differences in opinion now. Honestly, she hadn't the foggiest idea of how that worked. She never understood how Keira got away with flirting with one of the bad guys for two years, then turning around and giving Jak crap for how he did things and who he talked to. Still, it was how the story went...

And she wasn't at liberty to screw with it.

"Just give yourself some time to cool off." She advised. "Don't worry about it. Go and support Daxter. I'll be here when you guys get out."

"You're not coming with?" He asked.

"No thanks." She waved him off. He didn't ask, based off of the look on her face. She waited till he was up the stairs and out of her sight, finally moving her own feet. She went up the stairs too, but not to enter the stadium; she veered off to the left and towards the garages.

She knew she'd said she'd be where he left her, but her hyperactive energy was still coursing and preventing her from sitting still. No, she had an idea and hadn't the constitution to put a stop to it at the moment. Sure, she wasn't at liberty to screw with the story...

But she was in the proper position to passively find out more. Arriving back in the garage she wasn't surprised to find it empty; Keira was likely in a reserved track-side area of seating for mechanics and team owners to watch Dax and pray to every god she knew that the little ottsel wouldn't be thrown off or killed in a fiery crash. Loor planned to wait for the scene after the race and finally be in the room with Jak and Keira at the same time.

Then she'd stay behind and pick Keira's brain. It was the 'other woman' stipulation that she'd been trying to avoid, but she was willing to get caught up in it now if it would satisfy her petty curiosity.

Ignoring the temptation of disturbing the green curtain at the end of the room, she hopped up onto the work bench with the VC-M1 in pieces next to the large precursor device that they'd been trying to piece together that morning.

Waiting annoyed her to no end, kicking her feet and tapping her nails on the bench. She knew the races were somewhat short compared to what she was used to; a full hour event going around a several-mile long track. Zoomer racing was more like motocross with only three laps. Short track, smash-and-grind rules, and dangerous hazards all over the place.

She wondered just how well Dax was doing. How did he win that race? She'd held the little ottsel a few times; his bones were tiny and his body rather soft. Maybe he'd accidentally shoved some of the other racers into walls, pulling ahead by haphazardly taking out the competition. That and his little body probably cut down on wind resistance; zoomers were all about aerodynamics.

She had to stop thinking about it; Daxter winning was a simple and straightforward fact. She just had to wait.

The fidgeting continued, eventually occupying her mind by flexing her toes inside her boots, trying to isolate the two smallest toes on either foot and move them on their own like she could the other three.

A sudden jump in the noise level outside the garage let her know the race was over. People were leaving the stadium, laughing and chattering loudly, too many voices overlapping for Loor to detect any real worlds.

And, a few moments later, Keira entered with Daxter on her shoulder for once. Behind her was Tess, who must have dropped by for the races and bumped into Keira. In Keira's hand was a large trophy of an off-silver tone, which she plunked down on the edge of the workbench, since the trophy case in the corner would need some clearing out before she'd have space for it. As she did so she flashed a victorious smile at Loor, Daxter jumping down and checking out his reflection in the decorative metal.

"Now there's a handsome winner!" He declared, smoothing the fur on his stomach.

"You did it Daxter!" Keira congratulated, looking like she could hardly believe it. "You helped us qualify for the big race!"

"Did you ever doubt?" The ottsel grinned. "I back seat drive for Jak all the time." He then looked to Tess, who was standing right behind him. "Hey! When do I get the winner's big kiss?" He asked while indicating his fuzzy cheek.

Tess giggled. "Maybe later..." She answered coyly while scratching his head. "If you're a good boy."

Loor, and everyone else in the garage, looked up as one last person joined the party.

Jak had made his return to the team, though he didn't spare a look to Keira. He locked onto Daxter at once. This made the ottsel a little nervous, compelled to speak.

"Hey there, we... ah, showed those class two losers a thing or two, huh?" He asked while dropping from the bench to the floor, looking up at his friend cautiously, fearing another explosion.

"I saw." Jak said with arms crossed over his chest at first. "You drifted a little high in the turns a few times, but..." He then crouched down to be on the level with the orange fuzzy, "you hung in there! I'm proud of you, Dax."

"Really?" His voice expressed everyone else's surprise.

"Yeah! You did great!"

"No!" Dax shook his head. "_We_ did great! Right, partner?"

Jak nodded, welcoming his friend back onto his shoulder and then daring a glance up at the girls.

Keira was unimpressed, turning away and crossing her arms. Tess was clearly picking up on the vibe, looking between the broken couple with worry.

Jak finally looked at her, and she gave him a nod of approval with an outward push of her nose, telling him to go. She'd follow soon enough. He took the signal, turning and leaving as Loor re-directed her full attention to Keira.

Surprising her, so did Tess.

"Hey... were you two close?" Tess asked, peering at the blue-haired mechanic.

"Something like that..." Keira mumbled, arms still crossed over her chest. "But he's not the guy I remember... He's... different."

"How so? What's he done?" Tess saw fit to press.

"He..." Keira trailed off. "Well, he works with Krew, which really creeps me out."

"Works _with?" _Tess shook her head, sounding appalled. "He's done the guy a few favors for hardware, but he's only dealing with him to get at the Baron. He may be a sleazebag, but he's swimming in information."

"Okay, but the rumors about him-"

"Have you seen anything for yourself?" Tess asked quickly, cutting Keira off. "Don't trust rumors. They just poison your water."

"I..." Keira's arms finally dropped from her chest, giving her the look of someone beaten. "Alright... thanks Tess."

"Don't mention it!" The blond giggled while turning on her heel. "I gotta get back to work! See you around Keira."

There was silence in the garage for a few moments. Keira looked very upset with either herself or just the general state of things. Then, just when the quiet began to get awkward, she spoke. "Hey, Loor... that guy that was just here... do you know him?"

Loor could almost feel her brain working, re-fitting her story to fit like a key in a lock, shrugging casually while leaning back. "I work with him every now and then."

"Then those rumors... that he gets angry and... changes into a monster... are they true?"

The air turned tense. Something Keira couldn't know. The idea appalled Lauren mainly because it told her that Keira would discontinue any relations with Jak if it was true; if he did become a monster because of the eco in his system. She wanted to tell Keira the truth, just to spite everything, but found the lie much more comfortable. When the truth was on her lips, she found it hard to breathe. The wrong action was one she couldn't indulge in; nearly forced to instead tell Keira what she wanted to hear.

"Not that I've seen." The raven haired girl said casually. "He gets mad sometimes, but nothing scary or supernatural happens." She then hopped down from the bench and stretched. "Listen, Keira, I don't know all of what happened between you two..."

Another lie.

"But people change and grow up. You guys were friends forever and a half ago? Great. But take some time to catch up before you judge him so harshly. Don't tell me _you_ haven't done anything unfaithful. I've seen the way Errol looks at you... "

"That's different!" She protested. "Errol is..."

"Don't bother. I'm not here to argue with you about what's been done... but Jak's hurt by all this too, and _I _have to work with him. The sooner you two make up, the less I have to worry."

This was true on two different counts; once those two made nice Loor didn't have to worry about events on that part of the story.

Also, once the couple of Jak and Keira was officially back together, she wouldn't have to worry about any more of those near-miss moments. He'd be a good boy and stop tempting her, and she could focus on what she really needed to do.

Hopefully.

"I'll be back sometime to see some more of the machines." Loor said while turning to take her leave. "Examine all you like, but don't put that precursor device back together till I'm back... I got an interesting feeling about it."

She left while trying not to remember how much she would have liked if that near-miss she and Jak had during that storm... hadn't been a miss.

* * *

**The Author's Corner**

MEOW! I'M ALIVE!

Hokay so I kinda recently discovered Minecraft in all of it's building-block glory, so that's why I've been a bit slow... I'm sorry! .

Hope you're liking it... this was kinda a slow chapter, but I'm hoping the next should be a bit more fun.

-Loor


	49. Shell Shock

**CLEANED UP**

**Clean up notes for this chapter: **BLASTBOTS! Oh joy... meow. But FUCK finally back to the action.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Jak and Daxter. Sorry. **

**Vacation or War  
****Chapter Forty Nine- Shell Shock**

Loor was on a zoomer and racing back to the underground as fast as she could once she left Keira. She'd honestly wanted to take a slow and leisurely ride back, but if memory served her a big event was about to happen that she would rather be present for at the beginning rather than walk in right in the middle. So, flattened to her zoomer and cutting some corners very close to keep her lines as straight as possible, using the zoomer's air breaks to drift some aggressive corners, and switching zones a _lot_ to avoid traffic, she attempted to make up lost ground.

Again her mind drifted to the night before. Concentrated on driving, other thoughts floated up in the back of her brain, just strong enough to give her sore reminders. That near kiss... a scenario began to play out in the back of her brain, ideas of what could have happened if she had allowed herself such an indulgence. Sitting on his lap, facing him, she could have wrapped her legs around his body and––

_No._ She commanded herself, cursing under her breath, though the flow of colorful words increased in volume as she had a close-call with a KG cruiser, dropping a zone and twisting the handlebars to kill her speed and change her direction enough to avoid pedestrians. She didn't stop though, accelerating back to speed and passing through city sections to return to the hideout.

She arrived just as the boys were dismounting their own zoomer, throwing the breaks early so she didn't end up crashing while coming to a stop. Jak and Daxter had taken notice of her arrival, holding up and waiting the extra moment for her to stop in the alley and get down. "We thought you weren't gonna make it, toots." Daxter said with a smirk as she bent to touch her toes, following it with a crouch to loosen up her legs. Hanging on a zoomer so tightly was a good way to get cramps.

"Same here..." She giggled while nodding at Jak to lead the way back inside. "But surprise! Let's go."

"Since when are you so eager for missions?" Jak asked, a look of mild suspicion and worry taking his face.

"Since I recently had my ass captured, tortured, rescued, and feel I've got something to prove." She answered, motioning ahead to signal her wish to move. "Shall we?"

"Take it easy, Lorie-Loor." Daxter cautioned as Jak began to walk at a somewhat grudging pace. He looked like he had something to say to her, but didn't want to say it in front of Daxter. "We know you're a scary girl with a juice rod; who else matters?"

"The whole of the KG?" She questioned rhetorically while falling in line, the trio coming upon the hideout and pausing long enough for the door to open. Once inside it was a short few steps to the main table in the back of the room. For once it wasn't Torn presiding over things, instead the time twins were standing together, looking to be at each other's throats once more in some sort of argument.

Thankfully, such petty things broke up for a short time as they approached. Samos started in at once, dispensing with formalities to get right down to business. "The Baron is still up to his old tricks."

The Shadow, not to be left out, tested the brief peace by breaking in before Samos could go on. "The Underground has gotten word that several Krimzon blast bots are zeroing in on the hideout here."

Samos nodded slightly, going on to explain. "They're armored bombs which seek out target. If any of these blast bots reach this place... we're dead!"

And with that, the short spell of calm between the two men ended. The Shadow quickly got in Samos's face once more. "Ah, what are you worried about, old man? You're almost dead anyway."

The elder of the two took offense at once, tapping his walking stick on the ground in annoyance while speaking. "Well, if you'd _taken_ better care of yourself, I wouldn't be in the state I am now!"

Like a teen with a lecturing parent, the Shadow rolled his eyes and then remembered that the agents they were giving orders to were still present. "Take out those blast bots before they reach the hideout. They have proximity defenses, so _do_ be careful."

Jak nodded, turning on his heel without having a word to say to the time twins. Loor, on the other hand, dared to speak. It was odd for her, since she usually didn't talk during a scene she knew, but worry about her own skin made her open her mouth. "Anything that might help us take them down?"

The Shadow shrugged. "They've never sent blast bots at us before; they're siege weaponry, made in the various attempts to blow the metal head nest open."

"The best plan would be to take out the legs;" Samos broke in, pleased to be asked for advice. "They're walking packages of high explosive; disabling one or two of the legs might be enough to knock it over. A hard enough impact on the ground and the explosives will trigger; very far from here. Even if it doesn't blow up, it won't be able to make it's way to us anymore."

"And what about the people in the streets!" The Shadow took issue with this strategy. "The Baron may kill indiscriminately to come after us, but that's not how we do things around here!"

"You'd rather one of those nasties gets over here and blows this place to bits?" Daxter threw in, Jak having stalled when Loor didn't follow. "Let _us_ worry about the messy details, and you two try not ta kill each other!"

There was a momentary pause before the two Samoses nodded grimly; they understood how ugly this war had been, and how much uglier it could get. Trying to avoid civilian casualties was always a thing, but they didn't have time to discuss it if blast bots were currently en rout. Lauren turned to follow the boys, the trio stopping a second as both Samoses called out the encouragement; "Good hunting!" At the same time.

From there it was a brisk walk back to the stairs, up to the street, and over to the zoomers.

"How are we going to find those things before they reach the hideout?" Loor asked while saddling up. "We don't even know how many there are."

"I've got an idea..." Jak replied with a slight smirk, getting onto her zoomer instead of his; they were riding double again. She was driving, he was shooting.

Loor noticed that Jak had a new mod for his morph gun as he pulled it from the holster on his back; the gun was in a compact form not much larger than the scatter gun mod, but the muzzle was now a metal piece in the shape of a metal head's skull. A black canister was hooked into the side, bright purple nodes identifying the type of eco the gun used for ammunition.

Jak had the peace maker.

"Well that's great for blowing them up." She said while resisting the urge to ask if she could hold the new gun, also scooting forward on the zoomer as best she could. "But how about the _seeking_ part of seek and destroy?" Loor was mainly asking this question because, in the game anyway, you found the blast bots because they were marked on the in-game map. There was something similar to said map on her comm. unit, but it certainly wasn't tracking her enemies for her.

Jak kept his smirk, looking a bit too smug for her tastes. "A blast bot is a large piece of machinery walking on its own, firing high powered lasers at pretty much everything that moves." He gestured out of the alley. "Get out into the streets and follow the sounds of screaming. We'll find 'em."

She nodded, not arguing with him. He was the hero, after all.

And, as Jak said, finding the mobile hunk of machinery was as easy as listening for chaos in the streets and following the sounds. Only a few derelict streets away, a red robot was making its way through. It had four legs that marched along the broken roads in a spider-like fashion, suspending a bulky body, likely the explosives package, a good eight feet above the ground. Atop the whole mechanism was a gun firing short bursts of bright light... that left parts of the street melted.

Loor was actually quite impressed; the Baron had to have a few bright minds working for him to make self-contained fighting units like this. She was also quite terrified, since they were hovering only a few yards off and the machine was making its way to them. They were currently in a narrow street, but the blast bot was tromping through a wider area that other people had effectively cleared themselves out of. Since it was big, it's steps covered a lot of ground. If they wanted to avoid getting toasted she'd have to decide very quickly whether she wanted to try and shoot past it or pull a U-turn to get to the other side of the narrow way.

Jak saw her tensing up to shoot forward, and quickly directed her otherwise. "No, stay here." He commanded, taking aim with his new gun and charging it up. Loor was too focused on the blast bot to look, but she knew what the peace maker did. It gathered up white-hot energy in a ball till the extra bits started arcing out and sparking. Then, whenever the holder of the gun let go of the trigger, the ball of destruction would be fired.

She could feel the sparks over her back as Jak pushed her forward and down on the zoomer to keep her out of the way. She ducked her head at first, but then remembered she wanted to see what happened to the blast bot.

She lifted her head just as the charge was fired off; it was a blue and white ball of sparks, flying in a corkscrew at the approaching KG bot. Despite the wonky flight pattern, the blast bot was too big of a target to miss.

The bot paused in its walking pattern when hit, the blue sparks spreading over the whole structure. One leg was lifted, the other three on the ground to keep the mechanism standing up. She could see little arcs of energy where the joints met up, and could have sworn she saw it shake a few times, as if it was still trying to move.

But it couldn't. The peace maker had shorted out the system.

"One down!" Daxter cheered.

Then it started to beep.

The lifted leg came down, but then the 'knee' joint of each leg began to bend, bringing the body close to the ground. The beeping grew both in speed and volume, which prompted Loor to turn the zoomer around and get some distance; of course, a blast bot's fail safe was to explode when disabled. Thankfully, all of the people had cleared out of the area before such things happened. Lauren's brain was just a few steps behind for some reason.

The explosion rocked the zoomer, shoving it though the air at a speed slightly faster than it was ever meant to go, debris shooting out in all directions as the blast bot went from a wonderfully built mechanism to a few leftover bits of broken and scorched metal. Cranking on the air breaks to try and get back into control, Loor dove the zoomer around a corner in hopes of avoiding any flying bits that might be harmful. The shock sent her brain out of active thought; back to that state she'd discovered when facing the KG.

And speaking of the KG, the boys in red were beginning to crawl out of the woodwork. Though not aware of actual words, she knew she'd been told to drive, and did so without question, hyper aware of things that could harm her but ultimately dead to anything she might have harmed. Driving on the lower zone, several guards got in her way... and she didn't waver the handle bars one bit, holding course until told otherwise.

On the edge of the slums, a second blast bot was on it's way to the underground. She couldn't hold still for Jak to get a clear shot, lest they get swarmed by the guards. Slower, circling, waiting for him to fire the killing blow at their objective.

It came quickly, and she once again accelerated away from the point of incident, back into the slums. Where was the next one?

Was it the last? Yes, she knew. Only three.

But so many guards. Groupings firing eco slugs, the ones who stood in her way with bigger guns that arced energy at the zoomer, stinging what few senses she still had awake, making the engine of their vehicle skip and sputter a few times before moving faster and breaking through.

He was directing her; telling her which turns to make. How did he know where to go? It seemed they were traveling through a river of KG, fighting their way upstream, finally taking the upper zone since all over air traffic had dissipated.

The city section changed; from the slums to the industrial section. Again they engaged their target on the very edge, the blast bot shooting at both guards and stationary zoomers parked along the streets. Jak was working to line up his shot, but she couldn't hold still in the air any more than she could on the ground; KG cruisers shot at full speed to ram them out of the airspace. Of course, this was nowhere near outside of Jak's skills...

But all the skills wouldn't fix the fact that he was out of ammo for the peace maker. The two previous shots had been overcharged, depleting all of the energy in the canister.

This awareness pushed Loor into action; when they both realized that gun was empty, she came back into the lower zone. Her first action was to plow through several KG, throwing the zoomer into a sideways drift and ditching. The next few seconds on the ground were quite critical for her; drawing her juice rod from her back and rushing the lumbering blast bot, which had one big blind-spot underneath it. It wouldn't shoot at her there. It was all that mattered.

The jointed knees became her point of attack, the idea to short it out, like the shots from the peacemaker did. She went after a leg that had just landed, making contact while engaging the crystal in her weapon by squeezing the center with all the might in her hands. Not quite as dramatic as the blast from Jak's gun, but it caused a stall within the machine above her. She ripped her weapon back, diving away from the robot and dodging a few guards.

A glance back told her she hadn't disabled the whole thing, but that single leg wasn't working... and the bot had attempted to continue walking. When it picked up another leg to move the balance shifted, sending the whole thing toppling over.

It seemed to fall very slowly in her view; she knew when it exploded it would eject molten metal everywhere, along with big and sharp chunks otherwise. She was way too close for comfort, but there was no available cover aside from the zoomer she'd dove off of... which was currently unmanned. She didn't take the time to conciser where Jak might have disappeared to; she simply dove for the vehicle with the full intention of using it as a shield.

She was sure she screamed, but the explosion was too loud. The blast came quickly after that, taking out most of the KG in the area as Loor cowered against a zoomer, which was pushed several feet by the shock wave. After the fact she could only hear a high pitched ringing which felt like a needle in her eardrums, and for a moment she feared she'd gone blind before realizing she'd closed her eyes.

Cracking them open was like swinging open a door on her active mind. The part of her that was still self-aware knew that it was over, and while standing up behind the zoomer she could feel her knees knocking together.

What on the planet had possessed her to do _that? _Jak would have been able to take care of that thing with a different gun, and yet she threw herself directly into the fire without even considering the fact that someone else might have gone and handled it. Before she'd just been eager to get onto another mission because she was desperate to have something else on her mind... but what she'd just done was plain stupid.

Blinking a few times she felt the hot spike of adrenaline again. "Jak? Dax?" She asked the air while whipping her head around to view the area besides the broken leftovers of the blast bot. Fear added in; perhaps her dumbass move had put the boys in lethal danger! She'd taken the only cover she'd seen from the robot going nuclear. What if–?

"Jeez, Loor, I didn't know you had that in ya!"

The girl whipped around to see the boys had backed out of the danger zone; a smart move to take when she charged in the way she did. They were just returning from hiding behind a support pillar for one of the sky bridges that ran through the whole of the industrial section. Daxter was grinning, being the one who had called out, as usual.

She glanced back to the remains of the blast bot, chuckling weakly while cracking a small smile. "Yeah... me neither..."

"We must be great teachers, eh Jak?" Dax said with a laugh. "Now you just gotta learn to have fun while you work!"

"Fun." Her tone was dry as she put her juice rod away, her loosening grip allowing the weapon to compact itself. "Uh... how many people did I run over?"

"Enough." Jak said before Daxter could estimate a number. She mentally thanked him for that; she both did and didn't want to know. The mindset she entered was working for her, but it still disturbed her... the things she did when her whole person chose survival over moral choice and higher thinking.

Jak's comm. unit started going off, the sound making the already tense girl jump nearly two feet in the air while yelping.

Both boys attempted not to laugh as Jak answered the call; Samos thanking them for averting a potential disaster. She fumed at both of them, feeling like a rubber band that had been stretched to the point of near-snapping. Daxter hopped over to Loor's shoulder while Jak spoke with his old mentor for a few moments. "Jeez... a bit jumpy? Sure you're not related to Vin?"

"Yet to be proven." She grumbled, remembering the fact that she very well could be distant cousins with most of the city. Perhaps she was even related to Errol, though the thought made her want to gag. Still, she doubted that, she wasn't related to any redheads by blood, and the facial markers were all wrong. If he was in the family, it was likely several times removed from the actual bloodline she carried.

"I say we go back to the Hip Hog." Daxter announced as Jak put away his comm. unit, returning to his partners. "This little lady needs to relax."

"I'm fine!" The girl defended vehemently, crossing her arms over her chest. "Just... still getting used to things."

"We don't have anything better to do, for the moment." Jak pointed out. "Let's get moving before the Guard sends another unit out here for clean-up."

Jak began walking, since their zoomer had been effectively totaled, as Daxter made the leap from her shoulder to his. She paused a moment, looking back at the wrecked blast bot, before following. It was amazing; the things she could do now. The things she had _done. _

But how many guards, _people, _had died in that blast?

She put it out of her head; all of these pieces would get sorted through once she was safely home with a bucket of ice cream, her favorite comforter and pillows, and a boxed set of either Bones or House.

* * *

**The Author's Corner**

Yeah... brain death is not good, nya?

Buuuuut this was a mission Loor never got to be a part of before! I love diving into her mental state, how the events and actions affect her.

So yeah... IF anyone was wondering where the hell I've been of late, blame it on the game Minecraft. It's crazy addictive fun, particularly if you buy the full version, but you can play the 'classic' version of it for free on www DOT minecraft DOT net. My addiction is just starting to teeter off, after building a whole freaking castle... and fountains... and a dock... and planting a forest. Yeah. Meow.

SOMEONE GET THOSE DAMNED PIGS OUT OF MY COURT YARD! I DON'T WANT THEM!

-ahem-

Hokay, see you next time punks.

-Loor


	50. Chameleon

**CLEANED UP**

**Clean up notes for this chapter: **Introducing a new character that was never in the previous story, having some fun with a slightly drunk Loor, and a short encounter with Errol. YAY!

**Disclaimer: I don't own Jak and Daxter, Jak II, or any other part of the franchise. Meow. Loor is my intellectual property. **

**Vacation Or War  
****Chapter Fifty- Chameleon**

Coming to the Hip Hog during afternoon hours, the place had other patrons present. Still, Tess had the seats at the bar open for the two human members of the trouble trio, and Dax took his usual place on the bar. Loor kept her face forward, since she was more than well aware that another game event was about to happen. She didn't know how long they'd be able to hang out before hand, but the moment she verified that Krew was present and floating near the rafters she knew that Errol had to be sitting in one of the booths. The fat-ass was going to come down, sooner or later, and try to convince Jak to throw the championship race.

And when Jak turned him down flat, Errol would get up in his face and challenge him to a one-on-one bout through the city.

She suddenly realized she _really_ didn't want to be there, but it was too late to back out, so she took her seat next to Jak and put her head down on the bar, hoping to attract less attention by making herself short and un-threatening. Of course, she did have a gun strapped to her hip, so there was only so far she could take her profile down.

"Loor, you look terrible!" Tess said, distracted from giving attention to Daxter when the girl folded her arms around her head to hide most of her face. "What did you guys do to her?"

"Hey, she was the one so eager to tag along with us this time." Jak said with a shrug. "We didn't force her to do anything."

"It's just stress." Loor assured from her low vantage point on the counter. "Maybe I'll go give the gun course a shot or go do something... non-lethal to take the edge off."

"How about some of the sweet stuff?" Tess offered. "Same stuff we had the other night."

"I lack the means to actually purchase it." The raven haired girl pointed out dryly. She realized, just now, everything she'd gotten so far had been on others' good graces; the underground didn't pay.

"Then we'll put it on my tab!" Daxter snickered, grinning at Tess while the blond nodded. Loor had to guess that Daxter's tab came out of Tess's pocket, but she didn't seem to mind. She then looked over to Jak, who only shrugged, having no advice on whether or not she should take the offer.

Sighing, she nodded and sat up properly. "Why not?"

Daxter almost cheered as Tess busied her in getting the drink and a cup. "Yes! See, Lorie-Loor? You just gotta loosen up a bit."

"Right, right..." She felt like rubbing her temples, but didn't. Tess was back in moments, leaving the bottle on the counter and handing the cup over to Loor before turning her attention back to Daxter. Taking a sip, Loor was brought back into the warmth her first experience with wine had given her. It started with her throat and stomach, but the slow progression also went after her tense shoulders. As this went on, she watched as woman and ottsel talked and flirted. The two quickly separated off into their own little world.

Loor was surprised in how quickly she drained her cup.

"Why did you dive in like that?"

She turned her head slightly, Jak sitting next to her, having been watching her the whole time. He still had that worried look on his face, that dim suspicion that drew his brows ever so slightly down.

She understood now. He knew that she knew. Not particularly _what_ she knew, but the fact that she knew all the same. His worry came from the fact that she wasn't necessary, but she was still putting herself in danger just to stay in events that she knew. He probably wanted her to play it safer, but that really wasn't possible anymore. Her nature, coupled up with the things she'd learned about fighting, prevented her from sitting on the sidelines.

"I..." She refilled her cup while considering how to say what she'd felt in that moment. "I had to. I was there. I had an idea. So... I jumped."

"This stuff is messing with your head." He pointed out. "You were hesitant on your first missions, you _tried_ to stay out of it. Now I'm going to need a leash to keep you out of the dangerous parts."

She felt herself growling. She got that he was protective of his friends, but the leash comment was one too far for her. "Excuse me?" She questioned. "They're _all_ dangerous parts. Some worse than others, but the fact still remains. You can keep your damn leash to yourself. You know I can't be anywhere else; I might affect something without even meaning to."

"You could have done that today." He pointed out, both of them speaking in low but intense tones. "If I hadn't ran when you went for that blast bot, Dax and I could have been hamburger."

"I _know." _She snipped while swallowing another mouthful of wine, aggression slipping from her voice, the exhausted stress showing. The warmth passivized her. "I told you... I knew I had the ability, and it's just how I am... When I have the ability to do something, I do it. That's my most basic MO, and when my head gets in that place... it's back to the basics of the basics."

There was a brief pause; Tess giggling at something Daxter said as Loor helped herself to another refill of her cup. This was more than she'd had the first time she'd been drinking, but the bottle was there and she couldn't deny the relaxing effects. Still, this time she made an effort to be slower about it.

"You and Dax just worry about yourselves." She finally said. "I'll worry about keeping myself alive... but I can't hold back. Never could. Now that I have the skills... I'll always be itching to get out and use them."

He didn't say anything at first, letting off a soft sigh before nodding at her. "Please keep yourself in one piece... we have a lot to talk about when this is all over."

"Actually..." The girl let off a coy giggle. "We might not. All the pieces of my little puzzle are slowly coming together... with any luck, the night this all over I'll be punching my ticket for home."

A frown took on his face, mildly upset by this comment. "You wouldn't even stay for a day or two after?"

"And let you convince me going home isn't even worth it? Loor thinks not. I imagine with two days completely devoid of explosions or near-death experiences relating to metal heads, you could probably convince me of just about anything. At least during adventures the time is broken up by neat little distractions..." She then glanced upward, seeing the fact that Krew had moved from his lofty perch near the ceiling. "Speaking of..."

Krew's ever-floating chair brought him over the bi-species couple, flirting on the bar counter. He looked clearly unimpressed with Tess. "Hey! Back to work, toots."

Tess looked like she had an apology on her lips, but Daxter snapped back before she could say it. "She is working, beach ball!" The ottsel threw at the big boss. "Quit your yappin'."

Krew growled at the back-talking animal, his voice taking a clearly hostile tone. "Watch it! Or you'll be yet another trophy hung on these walls." With that his little fan gestured to the various metal head trophies hung about the bar to impress patrons. Daxter only shrugged him off, which brought Krew to turn and address his true target of business; the hero of the team. "Jak," The gang lord began in a softer and less aggressive voice. "I want you to throw the championship race. Just let Errol win..."

Jak quickly rounded on the fat man. "You bet against us?" He asked with both surprise and anger.

Krew's tone attempted sweetness, hoping to tempt Jak into complacency. "Jak... Jak... it's just business. You've become a symbol to the townies; they'll bet everything on a glimmer of hope. What better time to make money? Waddaya say, my boy?"

Jak's anger faded, a smug and defiant grin taking over. Krew's bets had already been made and locked in, and he never missed an opportunity to cause trouble. "I'd say you're going to lose a lot of money." He said while turning his back on Krew. "Because I'm going to race, and I intend to win!"

Krew gave up the sweet act, growling in frustration and annoyance. "You little... you're becoming more trouble than you're worth! I wouldn't get too comfy if I was you! Everyone's expendable!"

With that, the great blob of a man departed for his space back up by the roof, leaving the rest of the set-up to someone else. Loor imagined this was an inside deal; Krew suspected Jak wasn't going to throw the race... and had someone in position to hopefully take the cocky outlaw down for the count.

And that someone now came walking up from one of the tables, gaining attention quickly. Jak stood up out of his chair the moment he saw this other person on the approach, his smug grin changing to a bitter glower.

Errol had come to personally extend a challenge. "In a hurry to die, boy?" He asked, insane presence charging everything up a bit more. "Well, we don't have to wait for the big race! We can do this right now, one on one, through the city, using accelerator rings."

Loor's suspicions grew; Krew probably already had the course set up for the two to go at it, thus the delay in him coming to confront Jak with his deal; he had to make sure the rest of was ready to go.

"Miss even one ring, and it's over!" Errol threatened, as if he doubted Jak's accuracy when at any set of handlebars. "Keira already thinks you're a loser, and I'll prove it now, once and for all." As he said this he put a clenched fist in Jak's face, trying to intimidate.

Jak, finally cracking a smile, batted the hand away. "You're on."

Jak and Errol moved for the door, the blond hero not even glancing back for his friends, Dax having to leap to the floor and run to get back on his partner's shoulder. Several patrons of the bar also saw the challenge being made, and filed toward the door to see the action unfold.

Loor, on the other hand, stayed right where she was. Usually she'd be over eager to follow, excited to see the race and follow on a zoomer of her own, or take a shorter path to where the race ended to meet the boys there, but she was more than a little buzzed and had the common sense to keep her butt in her seat. So she just watched from the bar as all but a few people left.

She smirked to herself; racing really was the only entertainment this depraved city had left. A grand total of three people had stayed in their seats, not counting herself, and one of them hadn't moved because they were passed out on their table.

The door shut behind the group. The bar was strangely silent.

"Aren't you worried?" Tess asked. "Accelerator rings use air pressure to make zoomers go faster than they were really meant to go... sometimes they fly out of control, or a little object in their way can launch them in the air..."

"I trust Jak to handle himself." Loor snickered. "What, you worried about Dax?"

"Mmmhm..." The blond barmaid whined. "You'll have to forgive me, but if Daxi is hurt I'm going to beat your boyfriend's face in."

Loor's head whipped around, though the jell-o feeling that came with the warmth made her feel like a bobble-head toy. "He's _not_ my boyfriend."

"No?" Tess asked. "Oh, I see... you're waiting for him to get over Keira first. Or for Keira to get over him..."

"No, not either of those." The raven girl huffed while shaking her head. "He's not mine to go after. He's not my boyfriend, and he's not going to be my boyfriend as long as I can help it."

"_Right..." _Tess didn't look convinced. Loor snorted, draining her cup of what wine was left and leaving the empty container on the counter, facing out towards the main room once more. As she did, she took notice that one of the three left-over people had moved. It was a woman, clearly middle-aged and in no rush at all to get out the door. She wasn't anything special, just a simple woman with brown hair showing the first signs of silver age.

She wore long sleeves, reaching the door and placing her hand on the frame as she exited the building.

Her hand was covered in bandages. Wrapped up.

Loor blinked a few times, feeling the urge to get up and move. Who had that person been? She'd been simple enough, but the white gauze wrapping the woman's hand struck Loor as incredibly odd; that and her leisurely exit. Everyone had just left to see Errol and Jak take off on a race through the city streets, and she'd just taken her time, walking out and not drawing any attention to herself...

But by being so plain, she stuck out to Loor.

"Tess... do you know the woman who just left?" Loor asked as the door shut.

"Hm?" Tess glanced up, catching only a thin glimpse of the person before the door completely closed. "Uh... no, I don't think so. I think she's been here before, but she's never gotten in trouble or done business with anyone, so no. Just another costumer, coming and going. Likes tonic water."

"Likes to blend in." Loor concluded; tonic water was something people drank when they wanted other people to _think _they were drinking. Pieces were coming together again. There was one last detail that suddenly jumped out about the woman; deep tan skin. Not black, but hardly white. She'd seen that near-bronze tone before.

Her KG friend had skin like that.

_'She's my big sister.'_

"I gotta go." Loor said, getting up quickly. Her joints felt soft, but it was something she could adapt to.

"You're not gonna follow the boys, are you?" Tess asked quickly. "If you're planning to drink and zoom, you'd better think again."

"No, no, I'm not. I'm just gonna take a walk outside. I'm buzzed, Tess. Not stupid."

"Alright..." Tess agreed slowly. "Be safe."

The raven haired girl nodded while making a quick walk to the door. She was only buzzed, not drunk, so her gait wasn't effected. Still, all of her senses were just a little fuzzy. A warm, balmy feeling overtaking just about everything. When she made the door she was glad to have the cool breeze of the evening blow into her face, because it helped to re-focus her.

When she got outside she found the small crowd of people that had followed Jak and Errol out had mounted various types of transportation and were attempting to follow the racing pair without hitting the rings that had been set up for the course; large disks of blue, projected from two bases set on the street, the glow of eco identifying them as the technology being used for this one-on-one bout.

Where everyone was jetting off, a single zoomer was left just hovering in front of the Hip Hog in the low zone.

"You picked a fine time to drink." Said the person astride the zoomer, her voice just as plain as her looks. In normal circumstances she would never stand out, but at the moment she was taking the time to be noticed. "Though it looks like you've still figured me out, so perhaps I shouldn't be so harsh."

Loor stared a moment, then smirked. "Morgan, right?"

The woman on the zoomer nodded while returning the smirk, offering a hand to Loor. It was her right hand, the clean one. The left hand was left at her side, practically limp. Loor took the hand quickly, swinging her leg over the back of the zoomer and hanging on as the woman quickly jetted off. She turned to take the fast way to the stadium section; where the race between Jak and Errol would end.

Lauren didn't bother to ask questions while the lady was driving, but was simply happy to have found the person who would have some answers for her.

Things were finally going her way.

* * *

**The Author's Corner**

Well... Um... yeah. MEOW!

ONWARD!

-Loor


	51. A Trip Through History

**CLEANED UP**

**Clean up notes for this chapter: **Practically new content wise. Do we mind? I think not! It's also kinda long...

**Disclaimer: I do not own Jak and Daxter. Rawr. **

**Vacation or War  
****Chapter Fifty One- A Trip Through History**

"What year was it when you left?"

Loor was shocked when Morgan asked her this question on the way to the stadium square, driving surprisingly well for someone who was only using one hand. They were going fast, slipping through traffic expertly and changing zones often to avoid both other vehicles and pedestrians. On top of all this, the woman opened up conversation, her voice calm but raised over the air whipping by.

Still, Loor didn't pause for long. "2004." She answered. "August."

"No Y2K disaster then, huh?" Morgan chuckled. "1996, July. How much have I missed?"

"Ah... enough. How did you... I mean, what device–?"

"We'll talk about that later." She assured, dropping into the lower zone while entering the city section that the stadium was housed in. It was just short of the canals, and from where they had slowed to a stop Loor could see more accelerator rings had been set up over the water; the one-way path that would take Jak and Errol up to the stadium steps. "I had meant to wait till later, but I tend to be a bit impatient when it comes to information. Either way, I imagine none of your friends will be incredibly impressed if you show up at the winner's circle, since they'll assume you drove... on half a bottle of wine. Wait till they go by, then walk the rest of the way. I will meet with you after."

This woman seemed incredibly in-charge for being Ryan's elder sister. Still, Loor didn't argue, getting down off the zoomer and watching as Morgan turned down the street and sped off once more. It was an ultimately confusing encounter that left the girl off-balance. So, she and Ryan were from her time, a full ten years before she left it. Made sense, if Loor was right about Morgan being the person who went back to relay the story. But how had it ended up as a video game? Wouldn't she have tried to tell the world the story as fact, not fiction?

She looked around herself, trying to imagine the kind of person who would believe all this. Not very many came to mind. Still, she thought the conspiracy would have shown up on the internet, at least.

Of course, if it went online during the nineties, the only people who were likely to see it were blog-addicted adults and a few teenagers, still on their dial-up connections. She herself didn't get fully introduced to Google until 2000. How to use the internet was actually a class she'd gone through in her elementary school, using, of all things, the Netscape browser.

The girl's chain of thought was violently broken when two zoomers tore past in the canal, hitting the disk of eco set up and becoming all the more blurred for it. Tess wasn't kidding when she said the accelerator rings created some dangerous speed; Loor couldn't even tell who was who when they whipped by. Still, as she was told, she started walking towards the stadium once they were out of sight, which took less than a second. Walking after them felt like a snail following after a hare, but that was something of the point; she'd show up after the boys had won and Errol had left, far enough behind that it didn't look like she'd driven.

And then she'd have to make some kind of excuse as to why she'd be staying in the stadium section to meet up with Morgan once more.

_Morgan. _She thought, shaking her head while walking. _I can swear I know that name from somewhere... _

_**Shall I go searching for it?**_

Lyra's voice almost made Loor trip over her own feet, hardly aware of them in her buzzed state anyway. She yelped, putting her arms out for a moment to keep her balance before continuing on her way, trying to keep her composure. _I... Hello. If you want to..._

_**I do. This is just getting interesting... **_

Loor began to walk with one shoulder brushing the buildings on the side of the street to guarantee stability as Lyra's claws began to pick through her memories. She got brief flashes as the animal examined image after image, and in her buzzed condition she was not up to the task of walking and thinking at the same time. Least, not without several face-palm moments. So she stayed to the side of the street, using walls as her crutch until she decided that the best idea was to, perhaps, stop walking till she and Lyra figured this particular puzzle out.

So she stood, wishing she could scratch the inside of her brain, as Lyra went through more memories in a few seconds than Loor would have been able to study in a whole day. Each was gone through, and left behind as it didn't turn up the information that they were looking for.

_Why is this all to do with gaming? _Loor questioned groggily. _I know I haven't forgotten a character; Morgan wasn't part of that... I figured I might have heard it on the internet or something..._

_**There were lists of names... you read them. After the ending. **_

_Lists of... Oh, the credits?_

It was like calling a dog; Lyra instantly found the thing she was searching for. The specific information; all the names that Loor remembered from the end credits of Jak II.

And like most people, she remembered the first name most clearly. A single line that appeared before the rest of it; a dedication.

_'In memory of Morgan'_

"But..." Loor bit her lip as she resisted the urge to protest this new information out loud. She _knew _that couldn't be right. _Morgan's a dog; someone's pet who died during the game's creation. Everyone on the team knew her, so they dedicated the game to her. _

_**Or she's a person and the team didn't want to admit she'd mysteriously vanished, or died of a sickness no one had seen before...**_

_...Because she told a story that no one could believe. _

It hit her like a brick to the brain.

_Oh my God... she goes back, tries to tell the world but no one will believe her, has some sort of connection into the game industry that hooks her up with Naughty Dog; they don't believe it but they think it's a great story. She runs with it, gets it out to the world as fiction, and..._

_**She doesn't seem too sick yet... She may have just returned here. Or she died. Either way. **_

Loor didn't talk back, getting moving again without considering anything else. The race was probably over by now, and if she didn't get to the square soon the boys would find her via her comm. unit and come looking for her. It annoyed her how slowly her mind was working on some things, and decided she wasn't going to be drinking again any time soon unless she _knew_ they were done for the day.

Which was a difficult thing to know, now that they were coming into the latter parts of the story. Things would start spinning faster and faster as they got closer to the end game. Either way, she peeled herself from the wall as she came into the stadium square, looking up as she saw a zoomer jetting away above her; Errol no doubt, having a hissy fit about losing. She didn't divide her attention for long, looking forward and seeing Jak and Daxter on a zoomer, looking like they were deciding what to do next.

"Hey!" She called out. "Am I too late to congratulate you?"

Both boys looked up, Jak waving at her and switching his zoomer to hover in the lower zone while Daxter yelled back to her. "Ah, you didn't miss much. We didn't even have to get tricky to beat that loon!"

"So the class one races should be a piece of cake, eh?" She asked while getting to the zoomer and putting a hand on the hood for stability. "The way I see Krew handling business with Errol, I'll bet everyone else there are dummy drivers; people who already agreed to lose for a pretty penny."

"Yeah, and people who don't wanna get their heads beat into the pavement." Jak pointed out. "Errol could keep up out here; on the track he might even pull even and try to slam us into a wall. It's not going to be easy, but we'll beat him."

"I'd say let's go back to the Hip Hog to celebrate..." Dax started, "But I'm betting Krew doesn't want to see our faces back there right after we beat his boy. Too bad, I hate to leave Tess all alone..."

"Let's go back to the underground." Jak said before Daxter could talk himself into sticking it to Krew. "Sleep while we can. Loor, wanna hop on?"

The girl had to hold back from her automatic nod; usually she'd be happy to hightail it back to the hideout for the night, but this time she shook her head no. "Sorry, boys, I got a new acquaintance who wants to meet with me. I'll have sobered up by then and I'll drive myself back."

"New...?" Jak had an eyebrow raised; they'd been at each other's side for most of her time in Haven. The question was left unspoken on where the hell she found time to make a new friend. The last 'friend' she made was Ryan, and according to Jak the guy was still questionable.

"Take it easy." She snickered. "You know I can take care of myself if things begin to look ugly."

He nodded reluctantly. "Call if you need us." Then, turning the zoomer to leave the stadium section, he eased away from Loor before punching it and speeding away. She watched for a few seconds, though he was gone from her sight in less than two.

"You handled that quite well."

The girl whipped around to find Morgan had not been far off; standing behind one of the large statues that marked the base of the stadium stairs. The woman would have been able to watch and listen to the proceedings without being noticed... which made Loor wonder just how often she'd been around for all of the different missions Jak had gone on. How many hiding places did Morgan have throughout the city? How did she follow so easily without being seen or detected?

Either way, the woman was coming out from behind the statue to hop onto the same zoomer she'd rode in, having left it just a few feet away from her hiding place. It hadn't stuck out because zoomers got left all over the place as public property. She didn't have to tell Loor to get on; she just trotted over and did the same as before... plus a question.

"Where are we going?"

Morgan gave a slight shrug. "As far as I know, the boys are safe for now... so we will go to my home."

* * *

Morgan lived in an apartment located in south town, a small complex of twenty units or so at the far end of the port strip. The place Morgan called home was not exactly glamorous, but it was better than the slums, where homes were practically falling apart and everything was leaking. Her unit in particular looked about as simple and boring as she did; the door opened into a small kitchen, a fair sized living-room space beyond that, complete with a couch and, though it nearly made Loor do a double-take, a TV. There was a mess of blankets in front of the couch, along with a few pillows. A small hallway led off to the right, likely to a bathroom and bedroom.

"Ryan?" Morgan questioned while shutting and locking her door behind her. There was a moment's pause before the pile of blankets and pillows on the living room floor moved, a blond head eventually poking out. "What are you doing?"

"You were taking too long." The now ex. KG whined. "Thought I'd catch a nap... But Loor! I guess this is gonna be the big serious meeting thing now, huh?"

"Doesn't have to be too serious." Loor managed a shrug. "We're all coming from the same situation. I just want to know as much as I can... and figure out a way home."

Morgan chuckled, the sound rather tired as the woman stepped out of her boots and entered the abode to sit on the couch. Ryan hadn't moved from his pile of blankets on the floor, just sitting up and showing that he was wearing the red shirt he'd left the KG with. "Home is such an interesting word these days... but you'll be glad to know we've mostly figured that part out."

"Figured it out?" Loor asked while bending to un-clip her boots. "How?"

"I spoke with Onin some time ago; she will send me home when I wish." Morgan said simply. "What she exercises seems like magic, but I know enough about eco-biomechanics to know it's simply a very complex science. A discipline of the body to bend and channel eco. If I had the ability I would do it myself, but as you've discovered the people from our world react rather differently to the various types of eco. We're more prone to adsorb it than channel it."

Loor had only gotten her left boot off when she had to look up and stare at Morgan for three different things. First was the fact that she'd already gotten a way home, second being that Onin was that way when the blind soothsayer hadn't gotten back to Loor on her getting home just yet, and third being the assumption that their home was another world.

Morgan had a sudden smile at the shocked look Loor gave her. "Onin has not spoken with you because she is still searching for a way to improve your chances of survival. I asked about you while I was there last; she worries that even if she can reverse your physical aging that you'll still be dead in a matter of months."

"How long have you been watching me?" The girl questioned, feeling a tad violated. She liked being very aware of her surroundings; the fact that Morgan knew all of these things about her made her nervous.

"_You?" _The woman smirked. "Jak's the one I've been following. You just happened to fall within my scope... and since Ryan was there when you landed, we knew you were from our world. I was... curious."

The girl finally got her right boot off, coming to join Morgan on the couch. It was squishy and smelled a little odd, but comfy all the same. "Why are you following him?"

"We've been there since the beginning." Ryan piped up. "Jak probably doesn't remember me, but I played with him a few times when I was a little kid."

"When you were..." The girl blinked a few times. "Ryan. You said you don't remember it all. That's because you've only been in _Haven_ for six years. You two first landed in Sandover, didn't you? How long as it been since you two left home? When was _your_ accident?"

"Eighteen years ago." Morgan answered quickly. "I was in collage, studying programming and playing with numbers on the side with my own little projects. Ryan was only four..."

"Wait... isn't that a little far apart for you two to be brother and sister? You're old enough to be his mom."

"She used to pretend." Ryan said with a playful pout.

"He's my half brother." Morgan explained. "Same father; my mother died and dad re-married to a younger woman. Then dad got sick, and I ended up taking care of Ryan... a lot."

"So what was the experiment?" Lauren asked, curious. "How did you create eco?"

"Bonding electrons to hydrogen, how else?" Morgan sighed. "You couldn't imagine how excited I was when the sparks turned purple. Ryan had been running in to ask for my help with something... and then suddenly the sparks melted right through the containment glass for the experiment. They struck me..." The woman held up her bandaged hand, "and Ryan had just grabbed my other hand. We woke up in some little village, clothed and taken care of by a somewhat hyper man with blue skin... of course, all of the sages end up tainted by their eco of choice."

"Rock Village." Loor concluded quickly. She remembered the blue sage; a technical genius. Still, the fact that she knew seemed to confuse both Morgan and Ryan.

"How did you know _that?_" Ryan questioned. "Did Jak tell you about it?"

"He didn't have to." Loor returned quickly. "I already... A lot of people know about that."

Morgan and Ryan looked at each other, a slow smile spreading on Morgan's face, looking back at Loor. "Of course, you come from a time after we had left! The world has seen what I've seen... knows what I know... tell me, how did the world take the news? The fact that we have such an extraordinary dimension, right next door?"

Loor felt her face warming up, turning a faint shade of pink. Morgan's plan had been to return and tell the world; she'd be disappointed to find the world would not receive her news the way she intended it.

But she also didn't dare tell Morgan the horrible fate of her intentions. Like telling Jak how his life was supposedly going to go, knowledge of the future would be likely to ruin it. So, instead of answering the question, Loor decided to dodge.

"You didn't get to the part of _why_ you're following Jak around like a stalker."

"Oh... yes..." Morgan's excitement was put on hold, nodding. "I told the blue sage I was Ryan's mother and we took residence in that village, but I visited the other sages in hopes of finding out what had happened to us. No one seemed to know... but I met Jak and Daxter when they were boys while visiting Samos. I never gave up on getting home, but I wasn't going to forbid Ryan from having a childhood, so I sent him to play with them sometimes... before all the sages turned their teleporters off... By then I had found that _blasted _device... which I'm beginning to think is the exact same one you and Keira currently have a hold of."

"That big hunk of precursor junk?" Loor asked.

"Indeed." Morgan nodded. "I dug down to that thing in the precursor basin near the village, though the woman studying the lighting moles there was very particular that I didn't disturb any of the local fauna... Either way, I took to fixing the parts of the face panel that were clearly broken; I figured if I could get the device working I could somehow reverse engineer it to take Ryan and myself back home. Not a simple task, without any modern tools... and it was put on hold when the blue sage was attacked by Gol and Maia."

"You were there for the kidnapping?" Loor asked in awe.

"No," Ryan hopped in. "I was though. I was going to visit the guy... saw what was going on and ran to get Morgan."

"We arrived when the blue sage was already gone, but I decided to go to Sandover and see if Samos knew what was going on, and sent Ryan ahead to see the red sage. The fast way between the villages is the various volcanic canyons, but there's safer and slower paths in-between... By the time I'd managed to get into Sandover, Daxter had already been transformed into and ottsel and the boys were off on a grand adventure. I was... curious. And I cared about them. So, as they progressed from place to place, I spoke to the villagers and got their story, and traveled just a step behind Samos and Keira. Ryan spent most of that time traveling, first to see if the red sage was okay, and then back to tell me he was missing... by the time he'd made the round trip the adventure was already over."

"Hey, I'm actually pretty glad I missed out on most of that!" Ryan sighed. "I had to deal with all the lurkers Gol and Maia had set to block the roads between the sages... I'm still getting used to the smart ones that won't bite you as soon as look at you."

"After that... you both finished fixing that precursor device, didn't you?" Loor was putting the rest together quickly. "Only you didn't get a chance to reverse the mechanism. You hung around long enough to see the rift rider take the boys away, and went back to your work because you didn't know what else to do. The second you fixed it... it reacted to some eco in the area, since this... world... is swimming it, and you two landed in Haven."

"Six years ago." Ryan agreed. "Morgan and I got separated. A family in the slums took me in, but it wasn't long before I was drafted into the guard; it was either service or prison for not having a city ID. Morgan was smart and forged one; she landed in south town. Neither of us had the passes to get between city sections, so we'd lost each other... until two years ago."

"I was there when the boys crash landed." Morgan sighed, frowning. "And Ryan was part of the group of guards Errol had rallied to capture them. They hadn't changed a day from when we saw them last... mainly because it hadn't been more than a day to them. Either way, Ryan and I found each other again that day, and he stayed in the guard to keep an eye on Jak for me. Daxter effectively disappeared... and then, as you know, things have started moving again since a few weeks ago."

"And you want to see how it all ends up before you go home." Loor concluded, nodding. "Think you'll ever step out and be accounted for?"

"I doubt the boys remember me any better than they remember Ryan." Morgan shrugged with another exhausted sigh. "Either way, I did reveal myself to you for a reason besides Ryan being terrible at confrontation."

"Hey!" The blond younger brother protested from the floor.

"You didn't have to tell her about me." Morgan chided, shaking her head. "Either way, Keira currently has one of those devices thanks to your going to her for help, Loor, and she's working on fixing it in her free time. It will only take her a few days where it took me more than five years."

There was a pause for the woman to mumble about superior tools before snapping back to reality and continuing.

"When it is repaired it will react to every drop of eco in this city... and only precursors know where it will take it."

* * *

**The Author's Corner**

O DAM.

I like Morgan. ^_^ Yes, I know the Morgan actually mentioned in the Jak II credits is a dog; I just thought this was a fun wrinkle. Meow.

-Loor


	52. Disillusionment

**CLEANED UP**

**Clean up notes for this chapter: **More new to semi-new content. Got a nice scene between Jak and Loor... and BTW it's kinda a short chapter. MEOW!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Jak and Daxter. Damnit. **

**Vacation or War  
****Chapter Fifty Two- Disillusionment**

Loor was momentarily dumbfounded. She simply stared between Morgan and Ryan, blinking at the piece of information that had just been given to her. Granted, it was something she should have been able to figure out herself; if the device had reacted to the eco she created and flung her into Haven, of course it would activate the very moment it was repaired.

She just hadn't expected yet another disaster to be her fault. "We need to get it away from her!" Loor finally declared, re-mastering her tongue.

"Oh, that's already taken care of, sweetie!" Ryan assured, flashing one of his trademark smiles from his place on the floor. "Morgan knows everyone's patterns; we'll go tonight and steal it right out from under her. We just figured we'd tell you so, when Keira calls you saying the device you were so interested was stolen, you don't throw your whole brain against a wall trying to figure it out."

The girl's head was still reeling, but she growled softly at the way the information had been presented to her. "You could have phrased it differently... I was sure the world was about to end... _again." _

"So were we, when Ryan told me that Errol was pulling strings to get one out of storage." Morgan was wearing a lop-sided smile. "This way, we're even. The Baron has several of those devices, I call it a converter, locked away. None of his hired scientists can make heads or tails of the machines, so the effort to repair one of them is yet to be made... I imagine that regardless to which way this war goes, they will be lost. Either the metal heads will crush this city, or Jak and the underground will prevail in overthrowing the Baron and destroying the metal head armies. In the case of the latter, Ryan and I are prepared to take advantage of the confusion and do away with the remaining converters."

"What are you going to do with them?" Loor asked. "Precursor bronze, as I understand it, is a pretty resilient metal."

"Even the precursors are yet to produce a metal that can stand up to a planet's core temperature." Morgan answered with conviction. "The Baron's digging projects have ended badly for several workers when volcanic vents were opened; with the proper protective gear Ryan and I will be able to dump these devices into these active zones. The metal will sink until it reaches a level hot enough to break it apart." She then smiled. "Seeing as you asked that question, I have to assume the city survives... you know my story, which is strange since I don't know it myself just yet... and I worry that with your presence that it might have changed from it's original form."

"In small ways." The raven haired girl agreed. "There have been some scary moments, times when something terrible could have happened..."

"I want to know it as it was." Morgan said quickly, eagerly. "So I can tell it as it was. You seem to know it well enough; tell me what this world was without you."

"What?" The girl blinked, but then nodded slightly. Morgan was right; even Loor's small influences prevented Morgan from seeing what she was meant to see, the story she was meant to bring back when Onin returned her to the proper time-line. Any change to what was already established had a possibility of having a heavily negative domino effect, even if no-one could currently foresee it. So, settling into the cushy couch, Loor began to tell the story as she knew it.

What would have been the truth, had she never arrived in Haven.

* * *

Loor had decided to walk back to the underground after speaking at length with Morgan and Ryan. She was completely sobered, as it had been a few hours into the night, but she felt like her head was too full to drive. At the same time, she wasn't actively thinking either. It was like her whole brain case was so full it had been thrown into gridlock, leaving her with nothing better to do but count her footsteps on her trip through the city... and she even failed that, losing count a few times and starting over.

Morgan had taken notes on how the story went; every single event that Loor could call up with clarity, so that she could relay it to the past properly. The whole meeting left Lauren feeling like the little child who had left home; an isolated geek with an obsessive love for games.

She sorely wished to become that child again. Life had been so simple, so _easy. _What if she'd never gotten into technology; what if she'd simply grown up as some violent gamer girl who hadn't a greater care in the world but being taken seriously and keeping up with the current titles? What if she hadn't been so _damn_ smart?

That was when her mind locked up. She couldn't consider such an if. She didn't want to; as much as it got her in trouble, she _liked_ her superior brain. As much pain as it caused her, it also had the ability to bring her the few joys she got at home.

Counting commenced at that point, going on till she made it back to the dead-end alley. She was somewhere in the two-hundred range when her count broke off, and not for her own mental reasons.

No, someone was waiting for her. She noticed him rather quickly, blinking and curious of why he was staying up late to catch her. He needed sleep; he was the hero after all. Wasn't it him who said they weren't going to work out any of their issues till this was all over, that they would remain partners and friends in each other's eyes until the final battle was over and done with?

"Jak?" She questioned, all of these other queries channeled into her voice.

He was leaning on the wall near the door, arms crossed over his chest. He was still fully dressed, looking like he'd been there for a while. Either way, he was brought to explain his presence. "I was... worried you might have found your last puzzle piece."

He was worried that she might not have come back that night. She felt a warm smile spreading on her face, but she tried to shake it off the moment she realized it was there. "It wouldn't have mattered if I did. I told you guys; I'm here to see the end. I... I need to know that everything goes right."

"Things have gone okay so far..." He said with a shrug, a small curve to the corner of his mouth showing he was happy she hadn't bailed.

"But small changes have been made." She pointed out. "I'm... concerned that those small changes could somehow add up to a big disaster. It's probably unfounded, but it would be enough to keep me awake at night if I had just decided to take off." She came closer, though she didn't stop in front of him; she was headed for the door to get some rest. "C'mon, you gotta have a day tomorrow."

He reached out as she passed, a brief touch to her shoulder getting her to stop and turn, looking at him expectantly.

"Earlier, at the Hip Hog..." He let a small sigh go. "I didn't mean anything by the leash comment. With how hard you're working, you _do_ deserve to fight, but you also deserve the chance to make your final goal of getting home. I want you to live that long, you know?"

She nodded, though it came with a quiet scoff; the understand that home, for her, meant committing to the final month or so of her life. Still, she managed to keep that comment to herself. It would only make him more vehement in trying to convince her not to leave. Instead she let her smile come through, the relief and joy that she had someone rooting for her. "Let's go, hero." She motioned her head towards the door inside, again asserting the point that they both needed sleep.

"How big is tomorrow going to be?" He asked, unable to help curiosity as he finally peeled himself from the wall and stood with her by the door, the stone slab moving aside to reveal the stairs going down.

"Big enough." She sighed, thinking about it. There was a titian suit in their future. They weren't far from the endgame, now that she thought about it. Would it be another two days? Maybe three? In seventy-two hours, the war could be over. Kor revealed, the Baron killed, and the whole city turned on it's head.

It felt too big for her, but she wanted to see these events through to the end.

"You okay?" He asked.

She chewed on her lower lip, hesitant to speak. The thought that had thrown her into mental gridlock was coming back; what if she'd never gotten herself into this mess? "Hey, Jak... do you ever think about what life would be like if your adventures never happened... if you were still just some happy kid in Sandover, and nothing had ever gone wrong to get you sucked into this mess?"

"All the time." He answered quickly, not even thrown by her mention of Sandover, moving to lean in the door frame. She did the same across from him. "Mostly in prison... but I thought about it. Dax and I would have stayed carefree, spent a few years fighting over Keira, though we both knew who was eventually going to win that war... We'd just be another two villagers, settling into lazy, _boring, _village life." He paused, as if this was the first time he'd considered it since getting out of the prison. "You know... this may sound completely crazy, but I like this better. I don't think I could have lived like that. I could have done without the ugly stuff... but this city suits me better. The village was _too _quiet."

She stopped chewing, nodding dejectedly. That was _not_ the answer she had wanted to hear; but it was true that Jak and Daxter would have, without the adventures, led slow, boring, and likely long lives... and though Daxter seemed to be the type for that scene, Jak needed something a little faster paced to keep him interested.

She thought about the life she had back at home; hiding in her cave of a room, keeping her talents in the dark because she was already socially awkward enough. Her crowing discovery was something that couldn't even exist in her time because of the precursor devices left there to prevent the premature discovery of eco. She was, and would likely remain, a nobody, living out an average life of growing up, likely alone if her early years were any hint to her future prospective relationships.

At least now the torture wouldn't be prolonged. She would return, see those she cared about, and then die. Hopefully it would be too fast for her to be taken to a doctor; then when they finally did see what killed her there would be no evidence left. She would die when her body used up all of its eco, and she would appear a normal, red-blooded human being who's body had failed her.

She felt a hand taking hers, bringing her back to reality as she noted he was still standing there, waiting for her to comment on his answer to her question. "Was it like that for you?" He asked. "Simple? Boring?"

She nodded, managing a small chuckle. "Simple enough... slower than molasses going uphill in January..."

"Why go back?" He asked after a beat.

"You want to go home too, don't you?" She pointed out. "Given the chance, you would go back. Why? It's familiar. Normal. _Safe. _We all have our little security blankets, comfort devices, and they usually work because they remind us of the places we know best; where all is right with the world and nothing can hurt us..."

She felt like she was clinging to an idyllic scene; those words did make her think of home. Exclusively; her family and her house. The places beyond might as well have been hell on earth, a never-ending cycle of stress and abuse from her peers.

The two looked at each other. He seemed to sense she was having doubts about her place in the world, and pulled her away from her side of the door to hold her. She didn't protest, happy to rest her head on his shoulder again. His arms were warm, keeping her close. Like watching the stars above, her thoughts faded and her brain shut down to relax. Only this was more powerful. Stars nullified her mind for a few seconds at most, and even where the wine had gotten her to slow down for a few hours, this brought her to a complete stop. It wasn't grid lock, it was a total lack of traffic. Stress left her.

Without all of the spinning gears in her mind to keep her awake, she let her eyes close and realized just how exhausted she was. She hadn't slept more than an hour the night before, and that honestly felt like it could have been weeks ago. Jak suddenly found himself supporting most of her weight as her mind dropped off the edge of consciousness and her knees gave out.

He was surprised at first, calling her name once or twice to try and rouse her, figuring no one could fall asleep that fast. Then, accepting the fact that she was indeed out for the night, he smiled and picked her feet up off of the ground, carrying her down to her bunk.

If she was _that_ far gone so quickly, she probably really needed the sleep.

* * *

**The Author's Corner**

HOLY SHORT CHAPTER, BATMAN!

Yeah, some fluff, Morgan totally pulled a fast-one on all of us, aaaand pass-out.

Oh yeah, for people worrying about all the doubts that Loor is having on whether or not she's gonna hightail it home, please remember that the girl is a _stubborn mule_ when it comes to decisions she's already made.

UM UM UM UM... Well next chapter we get to dive back into content that already existed, and I am VERY EXCITED! YES, YES I AM! OMFT CAPSLOCK!

Yeah... can anyone tell I kinda fuck up my mood before I go to work? Yeah... got to get myself into this kinda super-happy-wow state so I don't upset costumers.

IT WORKS.

Happy reading,

-Loor


	53. A new Suit

**CLEANED UP**

**Clean up notes for this chapter: **A return to parts of the old storyline! YARG! Though once again were doing that lovely un-packing thing where the content of a single chapter takes two chapters to get through... But MEOW!

**Disclaimer: I don't own Jak and Daxter. **

**Vacation or War  
****Chapter Fifty Three- A New Suit**

When Loor awoke, she remembered no dreams. It was probably the first peaceful sleep she had experienced since landing in Haven, not waking with any sort of start or fear of what was going on in her head... because there was nothing going on in her head. She remembered how warm she'd felt, clinging to Jak just at the top of the stairs... and then she'd been gone. Now she woke like she did when she was home; rolling over and twisting her spine to crack her back. She didn't open her eyes just yet, twisting the other way and then swinging her legs over the side to sit up.

For a moment she imagined she was in her bed, back at home, but once she finally lifted her lids she was brought back to earth; she was in the underground, sitting on her bunk. She could guess how she'd gotten there; Jak had carried her in after she passed out in his arms. Not exactly fitting with her badass self-image, but she'd live. Wiping sleep from one eye, the other scanned the underground to see who was awake and accounted for, and who was still snoozing.

Torn and the elder Samos were at the end of the room, discussing something and hardly noticing one of their agents was awake and moving. Off to the right, in the corner of her vision, she could see Jak climbing down from his bunk. She imagined that was what woke her up; the slight swaying of the bunks that occurred when someone was moving around. She felt like she could sleep for another week and then some.

Samos broke away from Torn as Jak busied himself in getting suited up, Loor realizing she'd been laid in bed with most of her clothes on, only having to snap her juice rod onto her back and stuff her pistol back into the holster on her leg. "I see you two have finally seen fit to move. I'd like you both to go into dead town and go back to my old hut. You'll need some find some way to actually get into the building, so the underground has transported a machine called a titian suit out there for you to use. There's an object within that's attracting the metal heads to that area; it would be best to bring it into the city before they get their claws on it."

"If it's been there the whole time, I'm surprised they haven't gotten it already." Jak muttered as the old man left them, Samos sparing little more attention than that before returning to Torn. Jak was pulling on his gloves, the last of his things, while turning to get Daxter down from his bunk. The ottsel was groggy, slowly clambering onto Jak's shoulder and winding his hands into the blond hero's hair, nodding for the group to move out. He'd wake up sooner or later.

Loor got up off of her bunk, weapons in place, and fell in line as they started walking. Getting back onto the city streets, full sunlight hurting her sleepy eyes, began the process of rebooting her brain. She'd completely shut down last night, and like a CPU that hadn't been properly shut off in months, it was taking time for her to get everything back in order. Priorities came as short reminders of what she needed to be worrying about. _Stay alive_ topped the list, followed by _don't be a fucking retard around Jakkie-boy. _

Thankfully, being relaxed meant she didn't jump when her comm. unit went off in her little side pouch. She answered it quickly, the boys stopping just short of commandeering the zoomer on the corner to wait for her.

"_Loor! This is terrible!" _

The girl blinked blearily at the video feed; Keira looked very upset. "What happened?"

"_That precursor device! It's gone! Someone broke into my garage and stole it!" _

_That_ woke her up. Her brain started ticking through a list of who would do such a thing, getting a kick in the ass via a serious jolt of adrenaline... when she remembered her little talk with Morgan and Ryan the evening previous. She knew who had taken it, and it was for a good cause. "Shit..." The girl simply cursed, putting a hand to her head. "Did they take anything else? Are you alright?"

"_I'm fine, and the rest of the place is untouched. Jeez, I knew I should have slept here last night... do you want me to talk to Errol and try and get another one of those devices? The Baron has dug up a few..." _

"Pass." Loor replied after appearing to think. "I think I already know all I could have learned from that thing."

"_But I didn't even get to put the front part back together... what if-"_

"We can worry about that later." She cut the mechanic off. "I'm sorry, Keira, I don't mean to be rude. Right now I got some shit to do... we'll talk about this again in a few days, when things calm down. Alright? I'm sure you've got your own stuff to be focusing on too; don't get distracted."

There was a thoughtful pause before Keira agreed. _"Okay. You're right, we all got things we need to be doing. I'll see you around." _

Loor hefted a long sigh as she broke the connection and slipped the device back into her pouch. Tension had returned to her shoulders and most of her back, making her wish she could just go back to the underground and curl up till the war was over. She ignored the wish though, trotting up to the boys and finding the zoomer on the corner this morning was a two-seater.

Hopping into the passenger side, she wondered to herself if there was some sort of city maintenance crew that went around at night and put zoomers back on the various corners of streets, repairing the damaged ones and taking the broken ones for scrap metal. It would make sense, plus if they had serial numbers the city could keep track of what area damaged and destroyed zoomers most often as a way to gauge road-crime and vandalism and know where to post more police... though under the Baron's rule the answer to the question of where to post more guards was _everywhere. _

Disregarding the last part of that thought, she continued working on the rest in her brain until they arrived at the hole in the ground near the wall, the door below street level being the one that would lead them out into dead town. Storing the idea in the back of her head, they left the zoomer on the edge of the sharp drop down.

"Whoa... you guys being quiet enough?" Daxter questioned, making it clear he'd woken up just as the big security door was opening for them. "What did I miss last night? You two have a fight?"

"Hardly." Loor snickered before Jak could answer, though she kicked herself for it mentally. She hadn't expected him to move to explain... nor had she noticed him much on the drive over. She'd just gotten buried in her own head. What if falling asleep on him the night before made him feel awkward now? Things had been a little odd since their near-kiss, he and she tip-toeing around some conversation items for fear of upsetting the delicate balance they'd managed to create.

And she'd gone ahead and fallen asleep in his arms.

_Smooth, Loor... real smooth. _

He glanced at her, then shrugged. "Just the mood of the morning."

"I don't buy it..." Daxter made the hop over to Loor's shoulder, crawling on top of the girl's head to look down at her while clinging to the scarf on her forehead. "I've been getting a funny vibe between you two since the snatch-and-grab at the fortress... I pick up on this stuff!"

"It's too busy to be worrying about that sort of thing." Loor pointed out with a blunt tone of voice. "Let's just move, okay?" She gestured ahead as the first of the two heavy doors they had to pass opened up.

"What sort of thing?" Daxter blinked, lifting his head. Apparently he'd just been suggesting tension, but he quickly snapped another word in front of that. A grin appeared on his fuzzy mug. "_Oooh... _Hehehe... You two official and you decided not to tell me? C'mon, what happened to no secrets between friends?"

"Not even _close!" _Loor snapped, whipping her weapon off of her back and using it in its less dangerous, compressed form to prod the ottsel off of her head. The orange fuzzy quickly dove away, snickering at her violent reaction to his needling. "Sick son of a..." She grumbled, glaring at the door in front of them and waiting for the mechanism to finish unlocking.

"Denial?" Daxter had taken to the shoulder that was furthest away from Loor, still laughing to himself. "What a surprise. If I'm not even close, why isn't Jakkie-boy protesting one bit?"

Loor looked to Jak, multicolored eyes pleading for a bailout from Daxter's opinion. Jak met her gaze with a small and playful smile; he wasn't rescuing her from this one. "We're still working out the tiny details."

She felt herself growing infuriated with both boys, face turning faintly pink and warming along the cheeks. "I'm going to beat you both into mush..." She growled.

"Awe, look at her blush!" Dax laughed.

Loor let off a short and primal noise as she swung at them. Thankfully, the door had opened at that moment, allowing Jak to dive away from the strike and through the now open portal. She growled after them, but recognized that they were now entering the dangerous zone. A squeeze to her weapon made it expand into it's more lethal form, but she nodded ahead to show that she wanted to move along.

"Jeez... silly to serious in less than three seconds..." Daxter shook his head as Jak took out his gun to follow suit. "Jak's taught you too well, toots."

"And there's still plenty more to learn." The girl returned while coming out of the airlock and letting Jak lead the way. Ahead was the broken half-of-a-wall that they'd clambered over the last time they'd been in dead town, but that wasn't the way they needed to go if they wanted to actually get _inside_ Samos's old hut. Jak seemed to know this fact already, because instead of going straight ahead he turned off to the left.

The damp ground dropped under a small amount of water before rising up again in another island of squishy earth and crumbling walls. Just before one of those walls, standing on what remained of a foundation, was the titian suit.

The thing was a good two and a half times taller than Jak, the central cockpit tall enough for a person to stand in but so thin that fitting them both looked nearly impossible without getting incredibly cozy. It had legs with reversed knees and wide, heavy feet for balance. The arms were lacking in elbows but the three-fingered hands were huge and milti-jointed for picking up large rocks or shifting boulders. The machine was like a giant exoskeleton for dangerous environments or to assist in heavy lifting.

Daxter seemed to be thinking the same thing as they all got over to examine the tank with feet. "Jeez... wish we'd had this thing around when we found that precursor thing... would have made movin' everything to ol' Samos's place so much easier."

Jak nodded, but he was thinking more about how they'd go about the mission they were faced with. "Loor... you take this thing, and I'll take the ground and run interference. There's probably more metal heads wandering around, and this thing looks too clumsy to fight them off easily."

"I have no idea how to drive it." The girl pointed out, but she didn't argue. She just sheathed her weapon and began to climb up to the open cockpit. A glass cover was open to let her get to the seat... if it could be called that. It was a leather back of a chair with a narrow bit that curved forward so she had a place to rest her weight, but not a full seat. The area below was open for her legs, padded all around.

She also noted there were three different joysticks within. The curved portion of the seat turned up to lead into a middle stick that she assumed was for movement, a large red button on top that might as well said '_PRESS ME'_ to the average teenager. Then, to either side of where her hips would be, were smaller, horizontally placed sticks that she could only conclude were for the arms. Both of the had a trigger and a more inconspicuous black button on top.

"I don't either." Jak snickered, backing off as she looked just about ready to slide in and give it a try. "Take a bit to figure it out, and then we'll get moving."

Daxter took a flying leap as Loor turned herself to drop in. "Ooh! Lemme see! I bet I can help you piece it together."

"Uh..." The girl snickered as the ottsel skittered up to her shoulder, letting her legs down into the cockpit before allowing the rest of her to follow. The glass bubble between her and the outside world closed as she leaned back on the leather seat, and Dax moved to get in front of her and lean on the bubble, looking out. Thankfully he was short enough that he didn't obscure her vision, his tail just annoyingly close to the center stick.

A moment later the machine stood up out of it's resting position, making the girl yelp as she gained three feet in height, now looking down at Jak in front of her, looking up and smirking. She could see that his mouth was moving, but she couldn't hear him, or any other outside noises; the bubble had to be pretty thick to act as such an effective buffer. To signal her new isolated position, she tapped her ear and shook her head.

He nodded, drawing out his comm. instead; they could use the units like walky-talkies. She quickly pulled hers out to pick up once it started buzzing with the alert that he was calling her.

"_Move around." _He suggested. _"I'm going to stand on the other island to stay out of the way while you and Dax figure it out." _

"Kay." She answered, tucking the unit on the little bit of seat that stuck out from between her legs so she didn't have to hold it; she would have used the almighty boob pocket that all women had, but decided against it with Daxter around. He nodded at her through the glass, taking off to the side and out of her view. With the glass bubble she felt like she had tunnel vision, staring straight forward. Either way, she took hold of the middle stick and began to work out the controls.

She quickly learned that the titian suit did not turn and walk at the same time. It would walk straight forward, straight back, but never curved in it's path. If she wanted to turn she had to stop, and then turn the machine in place by pushing to the left or right. She then experimented with the side sticks; as assumed, they were the arms. Pushing or pulling the joystick would directly manipulate the appendage, while either trigger would cause the whole mechanism to suddenly rear back and rush forward in a violent show of force; designed to break old walls or rocks apart. The black buttons made the suit duck and stick its hands out like it meant to pick a block up, though it made a harsh noise and got back up when the hands found nothing to be there. All of these things were tested with Daxter looking over his shoulder, watching and coaching her _as_ she did things, reminding her of her brother when he decided to be a backseat gamer.

Either way, she imagined someone got paid really well to operate one of these at a construction site.

She then looked down at the red button again. Daxter was eying it too; it wasn't labeled, which made both teen and ottsel suspect it might be dangerous. "Rule number one..." Lauren muttered. "_Never_ press the red button."

Dax nodded. "Agreed, toots." He said while looking forward again, outside of the glass. "Let's get Jakkie-boy back over here and get moving-"

The ottsel suddenly screamed, as did Lauren, when she pressed the red button anyway.

* * *

**The Author's Corner**

Ah, titian suit, how I missed you. Y'know, if I could have just one thing out of the Jak and Daxter world I would be torn between the JET-board and the titian suit. Seriously, that thing would be AWESOME if you have some heavy lifting to do around the yard, or someone's car stalled out in your driveway and you just had to scoot the out of the way... or if you wanted a really bad-ass show and tell item.

But yeah; never press the big red button... unless you're Loor. Or any other person who's under forty.

Another kinda short chapter, but that's because this one had a lot of mechanical stuff in it...

For those who only follow me here on Fanfiction; be aware that a little side-chapter thing was made with Loor that is ONLY available on DA; Look me up on there under the same username; LoorTheDarkElf. The piece of writing is for a contest; it's called Raining Memories. I might later post it to FF, but for now it's exclusively over there.

My 'M' key is wearing out... that makes me sad...

Happy reading,

-Loor


	54. Interpretation

**CLEANED UP**

**Clean-up notes for this chapter: **Holy crap, a section of the story that ended up SHORTER because of the clean-up? Reality must be unwinding itself... this puppy runs forward about two chapters because I've learned a great way to keep things going is to hop over the mechanics of the mission; we don't care because we already know, as gamers, _how_ shit got done.

**Disclaimer: I don't own Jak and Daxter. **

**Vacation or War  
****Chapter Fifty Four- Interpretation**

Despite the dramatics that both girl and ottsel expressed when the red button was pressed, it turned out to be nothing more than a way to hop the machine over gaps; it engaged something rather like a jet-pack on the back, the legs bending and throwing the whole suit's weight up into the air as the jets added some extra 'oomph'. It was just startling, since neither of them were expecting it. The comm. unit, which was still engaged, communicated the fact that Jak was laughing at them and their loud protest to the suit's sudden movement.

Now that Loor knew how to drive the tank, and Jak came back to defend it as they made their way through the ruins of dead town, the going was fairly quick. A clearly weak wall of the island was broken open, Jakkie-boy took the lead to clear the zone ahead of nasties, and Loor would bring the titian suit to follow and open up the next area by way of either bashing a wall, knocking something down to make a bridge, or moving big stone blocks to make stepping stones. The suit itself had an on-board computer that told her where things were weak enough for her to break through, and easily gauged the size of blocks so there were no ill fits when she picked one up.

The trip made her somewhat sad; winding their way through old buildings she saw a part of Haven that was once a thriving section of big buildings and beautiful architecture. The stone walls were stained with old paint that was either scratched away or bleached by the sun, bits of tile broken and scraps of carpet molded and ripped apart. She almost felt bad, ripping out blocks of stone and re-bar to make some primitive stairs that the titian suit could climb as they pursued their ultimate goal.

She wanted to see this place before the Baron abandoned it to the metal heads; back when it was an important part of the city. She imagined Samos's old hut was a part of the city's history and thus allowed to survive as a famous landmark, maybe even preserved a little bit with protection from vandals.

Considering what Morgan had told her about the converter, that was within her ability to do. She'd worked out enough to understand that the device took eco, _any_ kind of eco, and used it as power to throw that eco source into the future; where it would be able to tamper with the past. One had to assume _how far_ forward was based on how much eco had been produced. Of course the machine would have to get past the Calamity, but the years after that would be determined by how much extra energy the device had to burn.

It likely also had a hand in her appearance; changing her ears so she looked like everyone else. The hair and eyes had been fault of the eco in her blood, but the ears were clearly something done upon her arrival, or in transit.

"Whoa, whoa, far enough toots!" Daxter protested, the girl getting dangerously close to a rocky edge as they ascended to higher levels of the runes. "Less thinkin', more driving!"

"Easy, Dax." The girl soothed, looking up and seeing they were only a few yards away from Samos's old hut. Jak was just ahead of her, jumping a gap she'd make easy work of with the red button. The platform they were headed for was once a wide-open room with tall windows. Sadly, the roof was gone and all that remained of the walls were the tall pillar-like sections that were between said windows. Even then, several lengths of stone had fallen into the water below, very few of them left standing.

One of them happened to be conveniently positioned to knocked down onto the deck that protruded from Samos's old hut. She didn't think twice about it, hopping and maneuvering to just the right angle to knock the big stone pillar down. A moment later she switched hand grips and gave the weak stone a few whacks, bringing it down into a noisy but neat bridge up to the ancient structure.

"_Not bad." _Jak chuckled over the comm., which was precariously balanced on the seat still; she'd been forced to save it with her thighs more than once because needed both hands to operate the titian suit. _"I wouldn't walk that thing up there though. Hop out and we'll find whatever it is Samos is looking for." _

"You got it." She answered, backing up the suit several behemoth steps before lifting her weight up and off of the leather back rest, grabbing her unit and breaking the connection while tucking it away. The titian suit responded by crouching down, the glass bubble over the cockpit opening up and Daxter diving out. The ottsel was back on Jak's shoulder by the time Loor had levered herself out, legs gone stiff with bracing against the motion of the suit. She landed on the stone floor of the old room only to groan and start rubbing her upper thighs. "Jeez... That's what I call saddle sore..."

Daxter started chuckling at her as she stood up straight again. She couldn't help a short growl at the ottsel, even if she'd made the poor joke herself. Jak, seeing the simplest way to defuse the situation, turned and began walking up the bridge that Loor had just knocked into the decrepit and crumbling hut. Loor followed, seeing no reason not to fall in step.

She also saw no reason not to give Daxter's tail a quick pull, as had become her custom for when he annoyed her.

"Yowch!" The ottsel cried, reaching back and yanking his tail away from where Loor could easily reach it while walking behind Jak. "What is it with you people and my tail? You can't have it, it's mine."

"For every action there's a reaction." Loor said with a smirk, using the saying since she really don't have much of a comeback. "And I don't want a tail... for some reason I'd think it would get really annoying really fast."

"Or you'd loose fur every time someone pulled it..." The ottsel whined, petting the abused appendage.

"I donno, Loor." Jak snickered. "Tail might be kinda useful for you; then I wouldn't have to get a leash to keep you in line. You'd have one built in."

Loor found herself growling again as both boys laughed about this. "I'm going to kill you both... eventually."

"Yeah, well save it while we're up here." Daxter said as they got off the makeshift bridge and made it to the hut proper. "Samos might not live here anymore, but he'd prolly still get up in knots if we got blood on the floor... or anything else for that matter."

Loor nodded while looking up. It was her first time seeing the hut, and now she was nearly standing inside it. They were on a thick wooden deck that ringed the upper level; Samos's home. There was a way to get to the lower tier, where Keira had once lived so very long ago, but that's not what they were there to look at. No, they walked along the deck that had blackened with age to get inside the hut proper.

The old walls had begun to crumble, but the things within Samos's old home were still growing. A small tree had broken through the roof, and ferns still managed to cling to life along the molded floor. The warp ring at the other side of the room had fallen from its mounts, and now had a thin coating of ivy where it leaned against the wall.

Again Loor was saddened by the effects of neglect and time, able to imagine this place as it once looked. Vibrant greens as opposed to the dark and dreary colors taken by the plants still living inside the hut, fresh planks of ash-brown, light tan stone walls, likely smoothed with some kind of clay, and a fully functional warp ring that would take anyone as far as the door to Gol and Maia's citadel in the northern reaches of the known world.

Daxter hopped down, looking around the place with a huff. "I spent many a day cleaning up this place for old greenie!" He groused, as if unimpressed that all of his sweat and toil had been in vain.

Loor was still looking about; she knew what they were looking for. It was a seed the size of her head from a huge tree that Samos had been taking care of back in Sandover. The sage expected it to be still alive and somewhere in his hut, since it was an object of natural power that would likely attract anything that sought eco energy.

Both her and Jak seemed to zero in on that fact at the same time. By relaxing their own senses, attuned and attracted to eco power, they were both drawn to where the tree was growing. Jak was the one who moved, digging through some vines and pulling away dead plant matter to unearth a large seed that was glowing faintly.

Loor also felt a buzz at her back. The draw was incredibly weak, but she felt it... behind her. And up. She wanted to turn and look, but first tried to consider what it could be. All the metal heads had been bashed till kingdom come, and Jakkie-boy had taken the time to adsorb the eco out of them, so that couldn't be what was tickling the back of her brain.

But she was getting the very distinct feeling of something on the roof... unable to watch, but listening to the activity inside the hut.

She could have smacked herself. _Morgan._ She followed the trouble twins everywhere, somehow undetected... but Loor was sensing eco on the woman's person. She wasn't a fellow experiment, and thus most certainly not swimming in eco energy, but she did have something going on; contamination. Her damaged hand; she still carried a small amount of eco, slowly destroying and mutating her flesh.

Jak's comm. unit activated before she could consider anything else dealing with the woman-gone-stalker. Loor had just gotten an idea, but it would wait till another time for her to think it through; Samos had called them to congratulate them on finding the seed.

"_Good work, you Jak! And... Daxter, I suppose."_

Loor didn't point out that she'd been completely forgotten to Daxter, who was making faces on the floor for being an afterthought.

"_Before we came through the rift long ago, I was nurturing that life seed from the great tree. It seems the metal heads are attracted to its power. Take the seed to Onin now. She will prepare it for Samos."_

Daxter snapped out of his grumpy mood. "You mean you?" The ottsel questioned.

"_No, the other me, Daxter!" _Samos snapped. "_My younger self needs the seed's power to become... sagely." _

"So..." The ottsel was putting things together. "Let me get this straight. It's fair to say that by bringing your younger self the life seed now, we helped you become the sage you are today? We helped you get your powers in the first place? And you _never_ thanked us?"

Samos seemed hesitant to accept this, but then relented. _"Thank you Daxter... now go do it!" _

The comm. unit made a small clicking noise as Samos disconnected, similar to the click on a telephone, Loor thought.

"Grouch..." Daxter grumbled, getting back to Jak's shoulder. "Doesn't even recognize the lady! I'm surprised you didn't speak up, Loor. You're the one who drove the damn tank for crying out loud."

"Take it easy, Dax." Loor smirked, shrugging. "You're the ones he knows. I'm surprised he's even comfortable mentioning the fact that this is his hut, and rifts and so on..."

"Hey, that's a good point. How come you aren't going nuts asking us questions about all this stuff?" The ottsel cocked his head. "Unless Jakkie-boy told you all about it while I wasn't looking... in which case I'm _very_ disappointed that he doesn't take better advantage of time alone with a woman- _WHAT THE HELL!" _

Jak's hand was behind his back, and Daxter jumped to once again get his tail out of hostile reach. "What the heck is wrong with you people?" The ottsel snapped, even more irritated as his partner tried to smile innocently. "I'm going to have a bald spot by the end of this, and I'll have you two to blame."

"Awe, but you love us anyway though, don't you Dax?" Loor asked while holding back on a giggle.

"Precursors knowing why..." Daxter grumbled. "C'mon, giddyap or whatever. Sooner we have that oversized bulb over to Samos's afro-version, the sooner I can visit Tess again.

Both Jak and Loor stared blankly at Dax for a second, questioning the same word. "..._ giddyap?" _

"Yeah." Dax's little shoulders moved in a shrug first. "Y'know, what you say when you're riding an animal and you're trying to get it to go faster..." He trailed off, eyes widening, along with a toothy grin. "What, Lorie-Loor? Are _you_ the only one who's allowed to say that to Jakkie-boy?"

Daxter had leapt off of Jak's shoulder a moment later, dropping to all fours to scamper down the stone bridge.

"_IT'S **MY** TAIL!" _

* * *

Chasing Daxter back through most of the ruins made the trip back to the city go by quickly, peace eventually made when they got back to the giant doors and the ottsel was cornered by both teenagers. Some groveling later, and a lot of laughter, and things were back to normal with the ottsel on Jak's shoulder and hostility towards the orange fuzzy rat limited to the threat of a possible midnight shaving. From there it was a drive though most of the city, abandoning the zoomer when needed to get into the section of the Bazaar where zooming was blocked off.

Onin's tent was only a short walk from there, where she and Pecker were waiting for them. Particularly Pecker, who was, as always, impatient.

"Onin says what took you so long?" The bird snapped, hopping out of the crone's head basket to scold the trio from the floor. "We had to skip lunch waiting for you two!"

Onin, not approving of the bird sticking more words in her mouth than usual, clapped her hands. Several sparks of blue came from the action, though Loor wondered if she'd channeled eco to calm her interpreter or threaten him. Either way, he backed off, waving his wings like hands. "Okay, okay... she really says 'Thank you for saving the life seed'. But I wouldn't say that if I were her! Give Onin the seed, and she will prepare it for Samos."

Jak nodded, approaching the small fire in the center of the room and looking as if he were going to directly hand it to the woman. Such was unnecessary; once he was close enough she made a motion with one hand charged with a blue aura; the seed responded and was lifted out of Jak's hand without a visible reason why. Loor watched, both she and Jak mesmerized as the seed literally floated in air, Onin beginning to add to its green glow with other bright and intense colors; all of the energy was based in eco.

She wondered where Onin had learned all of this; the girl had to assume that she'd been an apprentice to one of the old sages, or perhaps a descendant there of.

Pecker and Daxter were watching too, Daxter having climbed down since the seed was handed over, but neither were quite so fascinated with the manipulation of eco energy. Pecker, as usual, was thinking about his latest missed meal.

"Mmmm... bird seed..." The accented moncaw muttered.

Daxter took offense that the bird brain was drooling over what they'd just worked so hard to retrieve. "Back off, feather weight!"

Pecker quickly took on the air of an old man trying to school a little kid. "Listen tiny tail, I was leading my hundredth flock south before you had fur _one_ between your legs! Not that your fur means anything!"

"At least I'm not some over stuffed, over yappin', feather dusty mouthpiece for the worlds _oldest _professional!" Dax waved at Onin before beginning to wander back and forth, making silly gestures and faces. "Jak says 'have a nice day.' Jak says 'I can't think on my own.' Jak says 'Go bite yourself!'"

"That's it, rat boy! Now you've really pissed me off!"

The two of them tensed, exchanging karate poses and yells before they finally got on Jak's nerves enough for him to step in.

"Knock it off, both of you!" He snapped. Loor had been tempted to kick them both for a while. It would be like punting a football... With bones.

Being forced to stop, the two creatures stared at each other for a moment more before Pecker gave in, huffing "You're lucky I'm famished!" before returning to his lady. By now Onin had finished with the life seed, its glow much brighter and swimming with all four primary colors of eco; green, red, blue, and yellow. It floated back to Jak, who plucked it out of the air. "Onin says take the energized life seed to young Samos in Haven Forest. It will give Samos the power he needs to finally see the forest from the trees! Go. Quickly!"

Loor and Jak looked at each other, a quick nod exchanged. Daxter got back up on Jak's shoulder, and the three of them took off for the forest.

Lauren tried not to think about the ambush that would be waiting for them the second they gave the seed to Samos's younger version.

* * *

**The Author's Corner**

COFFEEEEEEEE!

Uh... yeah. Meow. Some fun in this chapter, but the people who know and remember the original know that we're heading up to a big scene... and those who remember are likely dreading it too.

Loor is _so_ about to get her ass handed to her...

MUHUHAHAHAHA!

HOKAY So I'm off to work! See you punks later.

Happy reading,

-Loor


	55. A Vision

**CLEANED UP**

**Clean up notes for this chapter: **Having some fun, some unpacking, Lyra paid us a visit as we head into a big (old) story event. This scared a lot of people last time, but since I've split up the events a bit it may not have as much impact... oh well. Meow.

**Disclaimer: I don't own Jak and Daxter.**

**Vacation or War  
****Chapter Fifty Five- A Vision**

Haven Forest was oddly quiet when they arrived; the reason being that it was completely empty of metal heads. Stepping off of the precursor platform that enabled them to get from the cliff overlooking the temple down to the forest itself, both teens went from high alert to relaxed. There were no metal heads to worry about on this run.

It had to be assumed that young Samos had arranged himself somewhere in the forest that was of importance; Loor already knew he was at the base of the behemoth tree with the odd walls built up around it, like an old worship area, on the other end of the woods. Jak didn't have to think about it long before he figured such things out on his own; for all they knew the life seed came from that giant tree, way the heck back when.

So it was over the river and through the woods, so to speak, to get to where the Shadow was meditating; exactly where both teenagers predicted he would be. Though clearly in a trance state, the Shadow broke out of it the moment the trouble trio approached.

Jak offered up the life seed. "Samos told me to..." he paused, reminded that this _was_ Samos. "I mean... you told me to... or..." He tripped again, trying to figure out the right way to say it. "Well... I mean your older version... ah, whatever. We heard you needed this."

Young Samos took the seed in the same fashion Onin had, seemed to pull it out of the air as Jak lightly tossed it. "Yes. Its power will help me speak to the plants."

"Assuming they have anything important to say..." Loor couldn't help muttering. Samos put a lot of trust in the cognitive powers of greenery. Her sarcasm came from the fact that though there were no metal heads, they were about to get attacked, and she knew it.

Flying up from over the giant lake, several Krimzon Guards with jet packs were leading two large carriers. They must have been trying to track down Samos since the underground movement began; now that the man was mostly alone and basically defenseless, the Baron had sent a detachment of guards to either take him out or bring him in.

"There he is!" One of the flying guards shouted.

"I see 'em!" Another returned.

The Shadow was terrified, clearly, but unwilling to give up the urgency of his mission. "Jak, Loor, protect me from these guards! I _must_ ask the plants vital questions about our future!"

Neither of the teens argued, both turning to face the oncoming wave of guards, whipping their appropriate weaponry out. Jak took a position directly in front of the Shadow as the short green man curled up around the seed and began to levitate with it, entering an even more intense trance than he'd been in before. The blaster mod was Jak's first choice, sharp-shooting the guards that were in the air.

Loor had both weapons in hand, her pistol leading as she dove off to one of the ramps that led up to the giant tree from the lower part of the forest on the edge of the lake. The two carriers had begun to unload at these points, dropping men at an alarming rate.

By now, Loor was counting again. Her gun drummed with her heart beat, completely blocking off the left ramp and leaving Jak to worry about whatever came from the right. Her breathing also grew rhythmic, like some sort of strange meditation, protecting her from what she was doing. Still, this time was no so desperate as the first. She was still cognitive, and she would remember quite clearly.

Slowly, she was getting used to the idea of taking human life.

Which was good, because those she faced were perfectly okay with trying to take hers. She was balanced on the front part of her foot, watching for incoming shots. Thankfully an eco slug moved a lot slower than the near instantaneous speed of a bullet back at home; she could see and dodge them. It wasn't easy, they were still fast, but it was possible... and she lacked any cover to hide behind. While the guards she was firing upon had cover, they didn't bother with it... or with attempting to get out of the way. Their armor prevented sudden jumps and hops out of the way.

She had given pause, reloading, when the carrier had dropped the last of its load. At least twenty men had been left, and even though she had just fired off an entire clip only four of them were downed. She had tried to hit them while they were still in the carrier.

Lines were formed like a firing squad, a few extras rushing out to get at her directly.

She'd slammed a new clip into her pistol, reminding those who rushed her that she had a melee weapon at her side as well. There was not enough strength in one arm to sweep a guard aside, but that didn't matter much once she activated the crystal in the weapon.

It was becoming second nature; she didn't even have to think about the deflection, rolling out of the way of the stunned guards as the two who had come after her knocked into each other and went down in a heap. Two shots ensured they wouldn't get back up.

She took a hit before she could turn back and face the other guards, attacking her from a distance. She hadn't been shot since her encounter with Errol, and that wound had long since been healed and forgotten. A bullet skimmed her shoulder, perhaps a few inches from being a deadly head shot and instead taking some skin and burning her as it passed. It was only a graze, but it startled her.

Rage was ignited. It was a feeling she didn't fight as it pumped hot blood through her emotionally detached person. She was tempted to dive in, to put away the gun and go in swinging her juice rod. There were only twelve left. She could stun them.

Then she could rip them to shreds.

Loor would realize, perhaps an entire day later, that this was the sign of her psyche slipping over to Lyra's beastly mindset. The rage and intent to take care of things with her bare hands were things of the animal, but at the time she was operating on a very similar wavelength.

So the gun was tucked away. She leapt forward, yelling.

Another shot skirted her arm, the jolt of pain giving her transition a shove.

The juice rod was dropped as claws grew from the hand that had been gripping it, Loor's yell turning to a bloodthirsty roar. A creature very different from the girl had taken over, and she would hardly break a sweat over twelve Krimzon Guards... even if the full daylight prevented her from seeing properly, eyes so sensitive she had to close them and rely on her ears and nose.

No, Lyra's senses were more than sharp enough to operate quite easily like that. Her talons scarred armor and cut through the black leather it was set into, finding soft flesh beneath. Arcs of eco flew from her body as she moved, like deadly sparks of static electricity caught in the fibers of her tail, crossing the body of a guard she hadn't the chance to dig her fangs into.

The butt of a rifle found her brow, proving that blindness was more of a hindrance than she would actively admit. Another bellow of battlelust was loosed, the creature digging into the guard she thought had struck her, and then exacted revenge by exerting a powerful wave of eco energy; a shocking blast that was sure to kill any creature that wasn't adept to adsorbing or coping with the substance. The wave was something that took most of her charge to start, not at full strength, and in madness she maintained it, still clutching the body of the man who had struck her in the head.

A brief joy came to her awareness as she considered the man's body, twisted by the taint, even after death.

The blast she had let go came to an end prematurely; she whined as she found herself without the energy to continue it. Without the ability to think, she hadn't thought about the fact that the same energy she'd used to attack was also the energy that sustained her stay in the living world. She'd raised her nose to search for another target, ears forward and searching for prey. All of the people here were dead, but there were more back where she'd come from.

A second sniff made her smirk. The _male_ was there.

She'd turned to slink in the direction of that delightfully tempting aroma... when the body she'd taken failed her.

The eco was gone.

All of it.

* * *

Jak made a run for Loor's crumpled body the moment all the guards were dead. He'd both seen and felt her change, and watched as Lyra had pointed herself in his direction... and then fallen over rather like an animal passing out from exhaustion. His first worry was that she'd been shot badly, but the two marks she had were no more than minor singes of her skin.

He then reminded himself that she had a bad habit of passing out after the change, as if it did more to her than it did to him. It was clear Lyra's emergence into the living world caused her pain after the fact; splitting headaches and body-aches to match. Those pains visited him too, and at first he assumed her pain resistance was simply pathetic... but now he was wondering if the after effects were more dramatic with her.

Either way, being reminded of such things made him calm down and pick her up. This was normal; if there was such a thing. Some time and she'd wake up and be ready to take on the world again.

He stopped a moment to pick her weapon up from where she'd dropped it and snap it to her back again before returning to the Shadow, who'd come out of his trance with a horrified look on his face. The little green dude was _not _happy with what the plants had to say to him.

"The life seed gave me a terrible vision!" Young Samos cried. "The Baron is planning to destroy the precursor stone! He aims to crack it open somehow! If he does this, the energy released will be beyond comprehension! It will destroy the world and more, ending all life!" The short man gasped, glancing about the woods as if he could still the voices of the plants in his head. "The plans are crying out for protection! You must stop the Baron, Jak! Stop him, however you can!"

Jak and Daxter had to gape at the thought themselves; they both had known the precursor stone was important and powerful, but _ending all life_ was something they hadn't thought about since Gol and Maia were trying to open dark eco silos with a precursor robot.

"Jeez... all the things he _coulda_ done with the precursor stone, and the Baron wants to blow it up?" Daxter snorted. "No imagination."

Jak cracked a small smile. Leave it to Dax to brighten up the day. "Let's see if we can't snag it back and come up with something better." Jak snickered back, getting moving while carrying Loor bridal style. It was easiest, since he had too much stuff hooked onto his own back to do a fireman carry.

It was a quick enough trip through the woods, since the metal heads were currently cleared out. Jak and Daxter expected Loor to wake up at any time and grouse about getting carried, or some other tough-ass behavior that characterized her while she was grumpy. This didn't happen though; the girl remained unconscious and breathing slowly, long enough that both boys started to worry.

"She okay?" Daxter asked as they got to the platform that would take them back up to the warp ring and, ultimately, the city wall.

"I'm not sure." Jak answered, frowning slightly while trying to work out why he felt particularly uneasy since he'd seen her crumple, reverting from Lyra's beastly form. Something had him anxious. "I... think she should have woken up by now... but I've only seen her change a few times. Who knows what the real norm is for her?"

"Norm?" Daxter questioned. "Can _anything _dealing with that dark eco crap have the world 'norm' attached to it? It's _all _screwy."

Jak didn't have a comeback for that, but to stare at Loor's face.

"So..." Dax began as Jak stepped off of the platform and onto the cliff face it had arrived at, the warp ring only a few yards away. "Serious question. _Are_ you two... y'know, a couple? Am I gonna have to stop calling Loor pet names and thinking about taking a nap on her exposed cleavage?"

Dax had to ask that question as Jak passed the _exact_ spot that their almost-kiss had happened. It almost hurt to think about, but now was not the time to push at such things. "We're gonna talk about it when all of this is over. She said so."

"Thought she was gonna take off the second this was all over?" Daxter started to pick up on Jak's conflict with himself, turning the blond youth's voice rough and dark. "Jeez... girl has _got_ to make up her mind."

Jak's agreement was silent.

"Of course..." Daxter snickered. "Could always give her a push in the right direction, if ya know how."

"Dax!" Jak protested the idea as they passed the warp ring, going from the high cliff face to the ledge that was just in front of the large door back into the city. "She was falling apart trying to figure herself out; that's why we're not talking about it till after. There's too much going on."

"Yeah, but that's because she's still trying to get it all straight." Dax had a grin on his fuzzy mug. "If you just laid it all straight for her, then you two could... y'know, ease some tension, for each other. Like me an' Tess."

"I do _not_ want to know about what you and Tess are doing when I'm not looking."

"The girl is magic, Jak." Daxter snickered, a smitten look coming as he thought about the blond barmaid.

Jak wanted to point out how Loor was intensely different from Tess; the blond girl at least being from Haven city and not having any sort of other-worldly cosmic cataclysm hanging over her every action. Still, Loor had nearly lost it just sharing that information with him, sharing it further with Daxter would probably serve to make the girl angry... which was one emotion that she was really good at, he noticed. She had trouble laughing or simply just relaxing around people, but anger? She didn't need much of an excuse to knock someone's block off.

Jak looked down at her again as they passed through the portal back into the city. Between her small frame and blank face she didn't look all that intimidating, particularly not when she was passed out... but in another light he could think of the big smiles she occasionally flashed while bantering on with Daxter, or trying to steal his goggles.

He liked those smiles.

"So where to next?" Dax asked as they entered the city, coming down the long ramp that led up to the door to the woods.

Jak was mid-shrug when his comm. unit started sounding off.

* * *

**The Author's Corner**

Well, here we are at a new chapter.

And I get to work a super long shift tonight. YARG? Meow. Shwatever.

ONWARD!

Happy reading,

-Loor


	56. Shortage

**CLEANED UP**

**Clean up notes for this chapter: **Ah... _this_ chapter. Oh I have been looking forward to this. More unpacking, changes to dialog, main events left alone.

**Disclaimer: I don't own Jak and Daxter. Damn it.**

**Vacation or War  
****Chapter Fifty Six- Shortage**

Loor's world came back in short and painful bursts of sensation, color, and sound. Over a span of what had to be several minuets she figured out that she was on a cold metal floor, laid out with something under her boots. The position took shape in her head, prone with her feet elevated; a way to encourage proper circulation for an injured person.

_What happened?_

Even asking this question made her brain throb inside her skull. Nothing felt quite right. Everything felt just a little colder than usual, goosebumps making her shiver and wish to roll over, but she hadn't even the strength to do that. Blue light and the beeps of various machinery gave her hints as so where she was.

Finally, as she gave a low groan to indicate her pained state, a voice let her know exactly where she was.

"Loor! Are you alright?"

She was at the power station. Cracking her eyes open she could see the room's ceiling above her, along with Vin's worried face. He was standing over her; the thing under her feet had to be some kind of storage container he'd drug out in hopes of helping her situation.

"How did I...?" She began, but speaking as also an effort her body didn't seem to be up to. _"Shit... _get here?"

"Jak carried you in... said you'd be okay after a while. I looked you over; no major damage, just a couple burns... how's everything feel?"

"Like I've been run over by a truck..." She grumped, making an attempt at sitting up and ultimately failing. _"_Fuck... not cool..."

"Just stay down." Vin advised. "Jak and Daxter should be back soon; I've already called Torn to make sure the Shadow was back at the hideout. The boys can take you back and he can look you over; he's the best doctor in the city..."

"Heh..." The girl managed a short chuckle before wincing again, closing her eyes once more. "You worry too much, Vin. I should... I should be okay..."

"Wasn't my idea." Vin said with a shrug. "Jak insisted."

The girl would have blushed if she didn't feel a wave of dizziness hit. How could she get dizzy on the floor? The feeling, it was like having lead in her limbs. She remembered it from a long time ago; a feeling very similar to heavy blood loss. When she was a little girl she'd nearly had a finger cut off by her brother. It had been a total accident, and the wound had only required eight stitches, but the two had to run nearly a mile back to their mother's car in order to get first aid. She'd bled that whole time, a panicked eight-year-old with her first semi-serious injury. After that she could hardly lift an arm, like the earth's gravity had suddenly increased on her.

_Breathe._ She told herself sternly. _You're not bleeding out. You're not even wounded. You always feel a little heavy after Lyra's come and gone... don't panic. You're not that little girl anymore. _

Deep breaths didn't do much to shake her weakness, but it did calm her nerves. As sick and pathetic as she felt, she managed to relax.

Her head jerked to the side when she heard the warp ring admitting someone back into the power station. Daxter was complaining again, loudly. "That is the _last_ time we go with a plan _you _come up with!"

"Hey, it worked." Jak defended.

"Yeah, and _we_ nearly got killed in the process!" Daxter snorted. "_Great_ idea, really. Let's go hop on a large heavy object and drop it on some eggs... forgetting that we'd get dropped right along with it."

"Only cause the cable turned out to be faulty."

"Glad you guys are getting along..." Loor managed from the floor, her eyes open again. She'd made another attempt at sitting up, half-way there when she called attention to herself. Jak was there to assist her in a second, helping her to sit up and supporting her.

"Loor!" Daxter grinned. "You're awake! Jakkie-boy was worried about you, called in ol' green stuff and everything to make sure all was well."

"I'd heard." She snickered, jaw clenching as her person protested even that. "It's just the usual weakness though... a bit stronger than I've experienced before, admitted..." She then gave a soft grunt of exasperation as she forced herself onto her feet, levering herself upright with one of the many computer panels around the room. Though she insisted on moving her on her own volition, Jak didn't trust the strong front she was putting up.

On her feet, the room began to spin. She blinked a few times as her head suddenly felt cold, the feeling washing down her as if she'd had a bucket of ice water dumped on her that was flowing in slow motion. The rush made her waver on the spot, parts of her that had gone cold getting that leaden feeling again.

She so detested such weakness, the inability to move and function properly. She growled, trying to move out of Jak's grip when he grabbed her shoulder again. She was irritated and shocked when she was unable to even do that, getting little more than a twitch in response from her arm.

The cold turned to a new wave of pain, flying through her and joining the already terrible pain in her head. Nausea followed for the intensity.

She forced herself to walk the few steps it was to the door. She didn't think about just how much she was depending on the wall, just the fact that she felt the absolute _need_ to move. Her body was failing her, but she refused to let it contain her. "Just..." She muttered. "Walk it off..."

"Loor..." Daxter's voice had clear concern; even he could see this was a bad idea. At the least, she needed rest. Both boys could see she'd become desperately pale, and the hand that wasn't on the wall shook violently, the pinky finger twitching at the last two joints. Still, she pressed herself until the door to the outside street opened.

She got as far as the doorway, standing in it and looking out. The sunlight hurt her eyes, even though it was the softer auburn light of sunset. There her feet refused to comply with her demands any longer.

Her stubborn anger finally gave way to fear. What was happening to her?

Jak was holding her shoulder again. She could feel his hand, trying to steady her. It hurt her, she noticed. It was as if his hand was warm enough to mildly burn her, layering over the desperate agony already pulsing in her stomach and sending waves out through the rest of her. But why did his touch hurt her? It wasn't the same kind of pain. No, it made her mouth go dry, adding to some desperation to get something she needed, similar to the feeling of thirst in its greatest extremes.

Her vision had gone dark at the edges when she turned her head back to look at them. Words had left her, but that didn't matter. What she felt was clear on her face.

Something was very wrong, and she recognized and feared it.

A moment later, her legs gave way. Her general awareness of the world wasn't far behind; the pain so permeated that she couldn't think about the individual bits that hurt. No, it was as if her body no longer had boundaries or distinct regions for pain; it all bled together. The sick feeling that had just been in her stomach mixed in with the pain, overriding any ability she had to think about what was happening.

Vision was gone. Hearing was muted, sounds soft and far away, as if at the end of a long tunnel. The only sensation she had left was this mix of agony and bodily ill.

And even as she took stock, those senses were fading quickly, overwhelmed by what she was feeling.

* * *

Both the Shadow and his elder counterpart had been waiting for Jak's arrival with Loor, but neither figured the situation to be so sudden or desperate. Jak arrived with the girl in arms, and she was clearly in some kind of physical distress. He'd been quick to lay her out on her bunk, standing by nervously as the green Sage and his younger self approached.

Jak stood in silence, watching as the two commenced a quick physical examination. Daxter hopped up onto one of the bunks to watch as the two Samoses asked Jak to help by removing some of Loor's things. Her shirt, since her juice rod was attached to it, and the holster for her pistol, so she could lay more comfortably. Unwilling to be still after that, the blond youth occupied himself with removing her boots too while the healers worked.

Torn was also present, standing by, who started asking questions. "Did anything happen?"

"No." Dax answered as Jak remained silent. "She hasn't been shot or cut up... she just got weak."

Samos looked to Jak, who was stowing Loor's effects. "She's like you, correct?" The old man asked. "A 'project' of the Baron's?"

"Yeah." He looked at her, horrified by how white her skin had gotten. Her black hair made a startling contrast. "She... she changed while we were protecting..." Jak didn't know how to say it, gesturing to the Shadow, who had hands laid on Loor, as if he could sense what was wrong with her. "She'd passed out after, woke up for a little while... and then..."

Samos nodded slightly, looking up to Torn. "Your knife." He demanded, holding out a hand. The ex. KG complied without question, and Samos turned with the curved blade to face Loor again, backing the Shadow off.

Loor's skin had been covered in a cold sweat, and though she seemed to be no longer perceiving the world in any sense her body twitched back and forth, her breathing panicked and her face twisted up into an expression of utmost discomfort and agony. Samos reached across to one of her hands, where several fingers were now exhibiting twitches.

Everyone watched as Samos removed the glove she wore and laid the knife to the girl's hand. He pressed the tip into her palm, blood blooming around the incision and showing bright red on her skin.

Red. Pure red.

"Loor has reacted a little differently to eco than you have, Jak." Samos said sadly, holding her hand like evidence. "Without it her body begins to shut down. When she changed, she must have used it all up in the fight. Without eco... she's dying. She needs it... but we've caught her very late in the process."

"Who cares?" Daxter snapped. "The girl needs eco? I say we go hunt up a metal head while we still got time!"

"She'd most likely be dead by the time you got back." The Shadow muttered. "Several major organs are hardly functioning. Her fingers twitching indicates that the nervous system has lost contact with the rest of the body, sending random impulses to try and connect again..."

"Samos."

Eyes went to Jak, who'd suddenly stood up and held out his hand. He wanted the knife that Samos had taken from Torn. The green sage didn't question, handing over the blade.

In a few quick moves, Jak had removed one of his gloves and taken the knife to his own hand. Blood came just as quickly; dark purple.

Jak gave the knife back to Torn before taking Loor's hand from Samos, clasping his bleeding palm over hers. The idea was simple enough; she needed eco, he had it. He just hoped this would work to feed it directly into her system... because he didn't see any other option.

The others react with silence, just staring. Loor didn't seem to improve, but then no one expected her to do so. Both of the Samoses seemed resigned that they'd gotten to her, too little, too late. Daxter wasn't sure what to think or say; the idea was a good one... but no one knew if it would be enough.

Torn turned to leave. No one argued as he marched up the stairs to the outside. Eventually both of the Samoses drifted away, to the back of the room. Daxter came down, slowly coming over to Loor's bunk and crawling up to sit by his friends. Jak was watching Loor intensely, searching out any change in her condition, and sign that she was getting better.

Or worse.

"Anything I can do, partner?" Dax asked.

At first, the blond hero didn't react. It took him a few moments to come back to the surface and realize he was being spoken to. Once he came around, he shook his head no. "All we can do is... wait."

"Any idea if its working?"

"I can feel the drain." Jak said with a small nod. "She _is_ taking it from me... but..."

He trailed off. The question was if the amount he was able to provide would be enough to kick-start her body again.

Dax nodded slightly, going to all fours and gently slinking over to Loor. Had he been a full sized person, he might have hugged her, but at present he gave a touch to her forehead before leaping down from the bunk and going to where he usually slept.

All that was left to do was wait and see; the ottsel decided time would go faster if he slept through it.

Jak didn't have such a comfort though. In the donor position he had to stay right where he was, and all of his waiting would be with the person in questionable status. After a few moments he began shifting some of his equipment off with his free hand, boots and holster discarded off the side of the bunk and haphazardly kicked beneath.

Then, pulling his legs up onto the bunk, he laid next to her.

"Please..." He muttered. "Stay here."

* * *

**The Author's Corner**

You know why I think this chapter fucked with peoples heads so badly foreverty ago? The story was _new. _No one knew where it was going, how or when it was going to end. With the fact that I'd killed Fury in chapter FIVE and the sequels were not even an idea yet because I had a different ending planned at the time, everyone knew that Loor was on the brink of death and I wasn't afraid of killing my own characters... that's like a known serial killer holding a gun to your head. Everyone knew I'd do it if provoked.

But now everyone knows I got two more books and three sister stories to finish re-writing. Kinda makes it tough to scare you fuckers, eh?

Ah well... MEOW!

Happy reading,

-Loor


	57. The Gift of My Sister

**CLEANED UP**

**Clean-up notes for this chapter: **Some new content, playing around with an idea that kinda came from _The Haunting in Connecticut. _I apologize to my co-author that I'm not gonna use some of the extra ideas she tossed to me for this, but when I got it I had a very clear picture of what I wanted it to be. FORGIVE ME IMOTO-CHAN, FOR I AM A STUBBORN MULE. .

**Disclaimer: I don't own Jak and Daxter. **

**Vacation or War  
****Chapter Fifty Seven- The Gift of My Sister**

Loor had been wrapped up in her head. It was the only way to escape the pain from the outside, to dive into her own psyche and hide. Techniques she'd used to mute the real world while speaking with Lyra became her salvation, though the sickness still cut through her. As it grew more intense she got the feeling that things were only getting worse for her on the outside as well.

Inside wasn't much better. She stood in darkness, and she found herself unable to manipulate it. She couldn't go to her room, the place that she so commonly shared with Lyra, or anywhere else. A dark limbo was all she had, not even bound by any force of gravity. She was floating on the darkness.

_Why? _She insisted to herself.

Even thinking the question caused the sensations she was so desperate to escape to fly in. She cried out and curled over herself, gritting her teeth. Mentally, she lost her form. There wasn't enough of her left to care about, simply an awareness.

And that awareness was pain, sick, and weakness.

"Lauren. You promised."

It was a voice that made her focus enough to fight it off, to find herself again. It was a girl's voice, but it was far from Lyra's melodic and seductive tones. No, this was a sweet voice, broken by disappointment and sadness.

In this dark place, she found herself faced with the impossible... but the face was clear.

Disbelief gave her even more focus, enough to power her tongue.

"... Chelsea?"

She was faced with her friend, looking down at her and floating in the same dark space. She appeared as she was before they left home; young and human.

"You promised you'd hang on for me." She said, a plaintive voice that suggested that Loor had already given up.

A voice that suggested that she was dying, if not already dead.

"I tried..." Lauren answered, feeling like holding her hands out in the need for forgiveness.

Chelsea shook her head, her eyes sad and downcast. "You're not trying now. You're hiding. You promised."

The darkness seemed to take at the edges of her body. Lauren watched as her friend began to vanish, sinking into the black.

"Sisters always keep their promises."

"Chelsea!" Loor felt a violent need to reach out as her friend faded, but by the time she'd decided to try she was already gone. She was alone in this empty space, but for herself...

And she was dying, tucked up in here to ride it out.

She didn't know if it had been a ghost, or a hallucination. Maybe both. All she knew is that it had a point.

She shook as she took a stronger stance, coming out of the ball she'd curled up into. She knew how to get back to the surface, but it was all a question of whether or not she wanted to try.

"...I promised."

The sudden rush was like being crushed. The single flash she'd felt before was only a fraction of what her body was going through, and she dared to try and return to it. Like touching a hot stove, she mentally tried to wrench back, but by sheer force of will she continued to push.

She knew how everything was failing. She could feel it. She might have been coming back just to die...

But she would face it.

She would hang on.

* * *

Jak had dozed off after an hour or so, not seeing much else he could do in the current situation. He never completely fell asleep, jolting awake every time he couldn't feel Loor breathing under his arm, panic preventing actual sleep. The rest of the underground had long gone silent, the two Samoses taking the open bunks furthest from the door so they could be handy, should either of them figure out something they'd be able to do. Torn was yet to return from the walk he'd decided to take, and Daxter was snoring on his bunk.

Jak shifted slightly, on his side next to Loor to watch her. One arm was cast over her body, holding her hand with his to keep the connection. She'd taken nearly all of the eco he'd had in his system, making him glad he wasn't dependent on it like she was. The fact that his body didn't try to adsorb it back once he'd lost most of it was something of proof that she needed it more.

Seconds seemed to drag on for longer than they should have. He noticed that she'd stopped twitching, but her breathing had stayed rather shallow, slow but ultimately short drags of air that were near-silent. With how cold she was, he had to keep his other hand under her neck just to make sure she was alive by keeping tabs on her pulse.

Even that was slow. Lethargic.

What if she died now? He'd already done all he could to try and stop it, since he wasn't going to leave her to be alone. If it was already too late, he'd rather be there. The idea of losing her was one that made him want to lash out and strike something; he wasn't the type of person to get sad and sulk about such things. Death was a very real thing, but usually there was something to be done... and he was the person to do it. Action; that was his MO. Find a problem, _fix it. _

But he'd already tried that.

Her chest shifted under his arm; a deeper breath being taken. It came with a noise, the fact that she had to fight for it. She was wheezing slightly. He sat up quickly, looking down at her as her head shifted a little bit, turning into the pillow as her teeth showed in a clear grimace. A whimper was produced from the exhale of her efforts, though they were redoubled the very next moment.

He couldn't help a smile as she swore into her pillow; such verbal eloquence was a good sign that she was doing better. Most of it was muffled, but eventually the girl herself seemed to realize that she was not only alive, but awake and cognizant.

He watched as she tried to lift herself from the pillow, failure bringing on another colorful stream of words that teetered off into silence. He didn't bother her just yet.

No. She was alive. That was all he cared about at the moment, and he'd stand by quietly until he had a reason to do otherwise. It was mainly that, if she decided to actually sleep, he didn't want to hinder that with conversation that could easily wait till later.

Laying her head into the pillow once more, that looked like the plan. She was going to slip back into unconsciousness again for some actual rest.

As she did so, she muttered to her pillow; "So _that's_ what that's gonna feel like... _so_ not looking forward to that part of going home."

He blinked at hearing this. Several conclusions were drawn at these words, but there was one he had to question out loud. One realization that effectively changed everything.

"There's no eco where you come from... is there?"

Loor's body jolted in surprise, eyes flying open as she found she wasn't alone. She found her hand wrapped around someone else's, and in turning her head the other way she found him sitting up behind her, staring at her in shock.

"But... with the way your body works with eco... going back is a death sentence."

There was a few moments of silence. She was still too weak to sit up and face him, but she did look up at him from her pillow, still holding his hand. Letting a sigh go, she nodded. "I didn't want you to know that part."

"You already knew?" He questioned. "And you were still planning to...?" He paused, the question of why being the next obvious one. Still, he hesitated on asking it. She had just had a brush with death, and from what was being said, it sounded like she'd just gotten a taste of how she was planning to meet her end anyway. Holding back from the question of why, a new question could be asked.

She'd just had a taste of what was waiting for her; if her home was indeed eco free, she would come to this end quite slowly. The agony would be drawn out for days, even a couple of weeks. Did she really want that? Was even a little time back at home worth such a slow descent? He imagined she'd asked these questions to herself before, but now...

"Are you still going to go back?"

"I have to." She answered without hesitation, almost as if she would snap if she had the energy. "You don't... I can't tell you what you'd need to know to understand."

The conversation was taking too much energy for her; what few words had been exchanged so far left her gasping slightly, still trying to stabilize herself.

He growled softly, frustrated but settling anyway. He finally tried to take his hand away, both he and she wincing and their respective cuts jolted in pain from being disturbed. Blood had caked and dried around their palms, and she turned her palm towards her face to stare at it.

"How did...?" She paused. "Of course. Eco shortage, the most readily available source..." She looked up at him, smiling softly. "You... I..."

She was searching for the right words to express gratitude for the fact that she still had her life, thanks to him.

"You're welcome." He said, smoothing his undamaged hand over her hair. "I wish I had known what was wrong sooner... you had me pretty scared."

She laughed to herself. "The great Jak? Scared? You're kidding, right?"

"I didn't want you to die... the idea that I couldn't do anything to stand in the way of it, or could have fixed things if I'd figured it out sooner..." His fingers got wrapped up in her hair as he slid his hand under her head.

"Take it easy." She advised. "I got something you could fix, right now."

"Hm?"

"I'm cold." She snickered, a silly and sheepish smile taking her face. He glanced down, realizing that she had been laid out on top of the blanket and he'd never bothered to cover her up because one hand had been occupied. Now that he had both hands in a mostly functional state, he got up. At first his thought had been to get her to move over and yank the blanket out from under her, but it had been made clear she could hardly lift her head, much less roll over. Instead of shoving her around, he reached up to his bunk and brought his blanket down.

"And what are you going to sleep with?" She asked as she saw him do this, though ultimately grateful as he cast the rough blanket over her.

A moment later his pillow also landed on her bunk.

"You." He answered, ignoring the crimson blush that spread across her cheeks at the implication that could be added to the statement. He went from spreading the blanket to joining her under it, once again laying out next to her. Of course, now he was laying down to sleep instead of to watch over her. He settled on his side, facing her, one arm tucked under his pillow, the other folded to his chest.

She noticed that he was careful to take a position in which he would not touch her at all; which meant he had to be on the very edge of the bunk and dangerously close to falling off.

Despite how strange she felt saying it, she said it anyway.

"You could... um... get a little closer."

"You don't mind?" He asked.

She closed her eyes with her smile still in place. The problem wasn't that she minded; it was that she practically reveled in it. Still, she wasn't kidding when she said she was cold, and the blanket wasn't going to be enough. She knew he was warm; she had been holding his hand not long ago. She didn't mention all of this though. "I insist." She said, her cheeks being the only warm thing she had left.

He didn't need much more provocation, scooting to join her in the dead center of the bunk and helping her rearrange so she could lay on her side as well. She was embarrassed that she couldn't even do that for herself, but most of her body could barely respond to _any_ physical request.

Thankfully he was there for some guilt-free assistance; and he was very warm. He went from avoiding making any contact to holding her around the middle, the arm he'd tucked under his pillow now laying out under her neck.

He was about to ask if she was comfortable, or if he needed to adjust, but he found that the moment she was properly warm, she was also asleep.

Relaxing, he held her a little closer before nodding off.

* * *

**The Author's Corner**

DAWWWW!

Kehehe... There was supposed to be a much more epic thing here, but the mood didn't quite feel right, so I didn't force it. Meow. I'm sure it'll come up somewhere else when the time feels right.

-Loor


	58. Say We Didn't

**CLEANED UP**

**Clean up notes for this chapter: **Well, the big epic thing didn't get delayed for long. XDD ROMANTIC CHAPTER! Woot? Loor thinks so.

**Disclaimer: I don't own Jak and Daxter.**

**Vacation or War  
****Chapter Fifty Eight- Say We Didn't**

Loor hadn't been able to stay asleep for long. She'd been glad to rest her eyes and try, but once she'd gotten the bare minimum required for her to be conscious again, she found herself awake and wrapped up in Jak's arms.

She had never realized that sleeping, or even laying next to someone, could be so comfortable and warm. He held her close, and she could close her eyes and pretend she was somewhere better. Safer. The fact that the bunk was firm and the blankets were rough and uncomfortable didn't really matter; in her mind they could have been laying in her bed back at home, or on Fury's big and cushy couch. Somewhere she wanted to be.

With him.

Even in that, her pain was not forgotten. The reason she rose back into the living world had to do with the ache that made her feel sick and dry on the inside with every pulse of her heart. She could feel the rhythm in her neck, and she knew it was faster than it should have been; like her heart was working hard to distribute the little eco she had to her body, which desperately needed every little bit of the charge she'd taken from Jak. Light-headed and feeling the urge to retch, she made an attempt to shift out from under Jak's arm a few times. Unfortunately, she wasn't even strong enough for him to notice and wake up.

It wasn't until someone else entered the underground that she felt any hope of getting free. She craned her neck when she heard the door to the outside open; her head was the only thing left that was actually free. Eyes straining against where she was stuck, she managed to see the dark shadow enter the space just beyond the foot of the bed. The figure was tall, and the voice further identified it as Torn.

"You're alive." He stated, coming around the side of the bunk. He didn't sound particularly happy in this note, but this is Torn we're talking about. "Can you move?"

"No..." She sighed, sucking in a deep breath of what now felt like cool air. It was helping her keep sickness at bay. "Not with him on top of me..."

Torn nudged Jak's shoulder a few times, the blond stirring and pulling Loor closer, as if to protect her, while looking up. He became alert quickly, glancing between the tattooed wonder and the girl in his arms. "Where did you vanish to?" He asked Torn, eventually letting go of Loor and then giving her a little help to sit up.

"Hunting up what metal heads you guys haven't exterminated out of all the closest areas." Torn grumped. "The Shadow says eco? Go help yourselves. I left the carcasses up on the street level... just make sure you get rid of them once you're done... doing whatever the hell it is you two do."

With that, King Laryngitis turned to his bunk and levered himself up to catch what hours of sleep were left for the taking. Loor had tried to move to the edge of the bunk at the mention of eco, but she was clumsy and ended up sprawled across Jak's legs.

He would have laughed if he didn't know that her weakness was a signal of just how close she was to the danger zone. He'd saved her, but only just.

She didn't stay down though; she forced herself up and over the edge, once again slipping and nearly hitting the floor; if he hadn't caught her.

"Easy..." He muttered while getting up, lifting her before she could protest. "You can stomp around and be Miss Bad-ass when you actually got the goods to back it up."

"Usually do..." She muttered, turning her head into his chest and not fighting the fact that she was being carried. Instead she resisted her impatience; she wanted to urge him to go faster. She realized that she had been dying because she was lacking eco, but the very idea of securing and draining a new source made her crave it. She already recognized that she got some strange pleasure from the substance as it burned its way through her system, but now something of an addiction was being hinted at.

Jak wasn't slow enough to warrant complaint, though. She imagined he felt the same way about it; his bodily chemistry had been altered by eco for him to readily take it and function with it. Perhaps he felt the same craving for the sparks; the same want for the burn, despite what they both knew was carried with it.

Up the stairs and onto street level, Torn was true to his word in having left the carcasses of a few metal heads. The question of how he'd brought them back to the underground was answered by that strange zoomer with the flatbed behind the seat; the same one he'd used to bring Fury's body back to the hideout for cremation. The zoomer was tucked very far back in the alley, the animals left on the street.

Each of the beasts had suffered several shots to either the head or body; blood leaking out, shining nearly black in the pale moonlight. Loor didn't analyze types or what area outside of the city they might've come from. Jak knew to set her down quickly, or she would have broken free again to get at what she wanted.

What she needed.

She'd made contact with one of the monsters before Jak had completely set her down, letting out a gasp of relief as her face twisted in pain. It was as if her blood had been heated to scalding temperatures, coursing up into the rest of her body, the electrical feel of it all making her hair stand up on end. A shudder coursed up her spine, making her shake like a dog coming out of water.

In a moment, she could feel Lyra waking up. She lost her body for a second, feeling like the animal. As she sucked the metal head dry she could feel ears pinned forward, the overbite allowing for massive fangs, claws digging into the flesh to get more power, and the tail whipping out behind. Oddly, she knew there was no threat of transformation; she could just feel the beast joining her. Loving the shocks and sting, and reveling in the realization that they were both alive and well.

And just as quickly, she'd lost her again. The animal sunk back to the corner of her mind that she usually occupied, contented with her hostess's heart returning to it's regular beat, no longer stressed to make things work.

Loor was not satisfied though; she greedily moved on to the next metal head, only noting after the fact that it was no longer difficult to move, neither painful nor exhausting. Her starved body came back to full strength in a matter of minutes, taking advantage of nearly all that Torn had brought back.

Jak had taken only one, staying out of her way. There was a strange smile on her face that reminded him too much of her other self...

He'd been momentarily worried that sudden exposure would cause her to change, but by the time she was done and standing up he got the feeling that she was back to one-hundred-percent and still in control.

That gave him the guts to ask her again.

"Are you really going to go back?"

She turned on him, rather quickly, to glare. With the return of eco, she regained her rage. Jak saw the anger bubbling up that he'd asked the same question twice, one of her pet peeves, but didn't respond to it. He just crossed his arms and watched her, waiting for an answer.

By refusing to copy her tense body language, she took it down a notch. She was still wound up and irritated, but no longer aggressive... for now. "I told you... I _have_ to."

"What's to go back for?" He quested, feeling his brow furrow. "I got it before, when I thought you were going back for friends and family... but if you're going back just to give them a funeral, then what the hell is the point?"

"It isn't what I'm going _back _for." She snapped. "It's what I need to avoid here! I told you, I can't explain it. Not without..." She shook her head violently. "It's not so much that I need to go back, it's the fact that I _can't_ stay." She turned to walk a few steps away from him. Having been unconscious for the past several hours, and now charged up with eco again, she found herself full of energy, burning it off by pacing the alleyway. "Going home... it might seal my doom, but at least I won't take anyone with me. I'm dying anyway, just like you. The eco; it'll kill us both sooner or later."

"Then why not let it be later?" He wanted to step in and stop her from trotting up and down the way. He wanted her to face him head on and talk to him calmly; her brisk steps seemed like her own little way of being distracted so she could come up with excuses. "Going back is a death sentence for you. Do you _want_ to do this all over again?"

He didn't point out that, if and when she did, it would be without him.

"Fuck no!" She snorted. "Anyway... if I work fast enough it shouldn't be so bad. I do have a plan, believe it or not... Onin told me I should have a few weeks... maybe even a month... though I can't imagine that dying of contamination is any better than losing it to a shortage."

"I try not to think about it." Jak shook his head. "All the sages were tainted by their color... Gol was clearly dying when Dax and I saw him, even if he and his sister had visions of reshaping the world at the time. He'd gone too mad with power to notice that his body was wasting away."

"I'd rather not be like that." She snorted. Her pacing had taken on a fierce rhythm, turning on her heel being a nearly violent action. "Aside from that, what else would I stay for? It's not like I have any sort of life here."

He blinked, stepping in and catching her shoulder before she could round away from him again. He leered at her, not sure of what to say. He wanted to suggest that she might stay for his sake, the fact that they clearly liked each other, but couldn't think of the right way of saying it.

He didn't have to; she understood his looks. Her face hardened at the concept. "Jak... what do you think is going to happen to you after this war is over and done with? And me... we're battle buddies, saving each other's asses day in and day out..."

"Don't say that's all we got. You know it's not true."

"So the Baron decided we both made good science experiments!" She got in his face, nearly touching noses with him. "We both got fucked up good, and there's some understanding there, but do you really think... _want_ to make something of this? What's got you so sure we'll even get along when it's all over, that you can even handle all the shit I have to hold back for the sake of this city?"

He had the audacity to smirk at her, grabbing her other shoulder to hold her. "The fact that I know you're holding back... and I still trust you. I saw you ready to take a bullet for Errol, and I still feel like you're on my side."

"Yeah, but we both felt that..." Her jaw was working, gritting her teeth as she took hold of his wrists, as if she intended to break his grip on her but didn't have the drive just yet. "Why am I even asking? It doesn't matter what the hell you or I feel about this; it _can't _happen."

"So we can't even try?" He pried. "Just because it's _wrong_? You have so many excuses as to why you can't, or why it's not right, but what the fuck do you _want_?"

The word 'wrong' hit her like a metal bat to the head. The way he said it, as if she were wussing out like a kid who was a total rule's buff. Sure, she'd been rather obsessed with the term of late, but one tends to obsess when it has to do with world-ending cataclysm. The question of what she wanted brought forth several thoughts, not least of which was their night out in the rain.

What if she'd kissed him them? She'd certainly wanted to, no doubt on that, but she'd wrenched away from the idea every time it had crossed. Now she considered it. What would it have been like to kiss him? Was he aggressive? Dominate? Or would he be totally new at it, just like her?

Lyra snapped to attention, driving the thought in another direction. Seated on his lap, what would have it felt like? She'd been wrapped around his hips, in perfect position to detect anything rising to the occasion. Just thinking about it, she began to crave physical attention even more ravenously than she'd been jonesing after eco.

She yanked his wrists down, suddenly lifting her head and acting on an impulse before she could talk herself out of it. Eyes open just long enough to make sure she would miss, she kissed him. It wasn't enough though, powering him back into the wall that wasn't more than two steps behind him, hands shifting to his chest while shifting her head slightly to one side, daring to act on pure instinct.

The sudden action had surprised him, but backed up to a wall was not a place he easily accepted. Retaliation was planned, but she pulled back before he could even wrap his arms around her.

Her eyes were wide. She hadn't expected she'd have that in her. She was sure she'd stop herself or rationalize herself out of it, or, or, or... it didn't matter. She'd done it. And she felt incredible for it. Heat pulsed through her as she considered diving right back in, but fear poured water on that fire. Passion was a dangerous thing that was sure to take her equally dangerous places.

She backed up a step, since he was still staring at her in shock. He hadn't thought she'd act so quickly, but the surprise was a pleasant one. He reached out for her again, catching her hand before she could deny him.

"Lauren..." He pulled her back into his chest.

"No." She answered before anything could be said or asked of her. She denied her action, or anything else he might have pointed out or asked her to do. Still, even as her voice protested, her head bent against his collar, seeking out that spot on his shoulder that she'd fallen asleep on the other night. His smell caught in her nose, tangy and delightful on one count, but also reminding her of the way the racetrack smelled after a heavy rain on another.

He was petting her hair, pushing it back and away from her face, hooking his finger under her chin to get her to look up at him again.

"We didn't... I didn't just..." She muttered weakly.

"Sure." He snickered. "And I didn't do this."

He made a short turn to corner her against the wall this time, pushing her chin up a little further and catching her in second kiss. If he was new at this, she would have never guessed because he took immediate control. There was no sheepish fear, only confident assertion as he took her upper lip, lightly sucking on it while one arm wrapped around her middle, the other hand going back to her head and her hair, getting tangled up in the black cascade.

She didn't fight him, instead swimming in sensation. Fire had started in her stomach, a peculiar feeling taking as she became less aware of the need to keep herself standing. Her joints felt like jell-o, and then she ultimately forgot about those trivial parts of her person. She was more aware of her skin, her wish to be touched, to be held, and the heat that had her melting from the inside out.

He broke away, and she took the initiative to capture him before her brain could turn back on. Her back being to the wall didn't bother her; in fact, it only served to make her more pleased with the situation. The greatest things for her were the things she had no control over; the unexpected and fresh surprises that made her euphoric and excited. She'd started this interesting turn of events, but he was certainly escalating it by doing what she didn't expect... which was anything.

She'd let off a short and purring hum when she found herself pressed between him and the wall; breathing harder than she should have been when she had her lips to herself once more.

"Enough..." She murmured, though all of her awareness protested. Lyra particularly, who had been more than reveling in Loor's choice of actions. "That's enough." She managed in a more solid tone.

He held her a few moments longer, but he could still recognize that she was right. The fact still stood that now was not the time for romance. There was a city to save, a missing child heir to find, and a horde of metal heads to defeat... and precious few hours that they'd be able to get sleep before they had to throw themselves at such problems.

These things would have to wait till then, as good as it felt to get the feelings out and enjoy them.

He nodded slightly, backing off and letting her escape from the wall. She smiled at his cooperation, but he also detected a little disappointment; parts of her wanted him to fight her order to stop.

He could smell those parts; likely some sort of sense enhancement from Dark's side of the equation.

He pulled her back for one last kiss.

After that, it would be back to business as usual.

* * *

**The Author's Corner**

Well it's ABOUT FUCKING TIME for this. XDD

Yarg for physical attraction! Cause we know that Jak is so damn gorgeous... And we all know he is so trying to tempt Loor so she won't have the will to leave him to go home.

But, still, Loor is a stubborn fucking mule.

MEOW!

-Loor


	59. Tower Bashing

**CLEANED UP**

**Clean up notes for this chapter: **Unpacking again, keeping things moving right along, and I kept a good line even though the scene changed a little bit!

Cause I'm just that good. XDD

**Disclaimer: I don't own Jak and Daxter**

**Vacation or War  
****Chapter Fifty Nine- Tower Bashing**

When Dax woke up, it was with a horrible crick in his neck. He'd fallen asleep with his chin cradled in his hands, trying to keep an eye on Jak and Loor in case anything happened. Not like there was anything he coulda done if the girl's condition had changed, but he still wanted to be there for his friends. Stretching out and rolling his fuzzy shoulders, he looked across the room to see what was going on now.

The first thing the ottsel noticed was that Jak was back in his appropriate bunk, not next to Loor. Obviously, something had happened last night, and curiosity rose with a small amount of fear. Easily leaping the aisle between the bunks, Daxter clambered up to where his friend was sleeping. Of course, if the ottsel wanted to garner any attention he had to use all of his strength and body mass to shake Jak's shoulder, and even then his friend reacted as if he'd been no more than gently nudged.

Said reaction was turning his head down into the pillow, mumbling something.

"C'mon bud..." Daxter whined, hopping up onto the shoulder he'd been shaking and grabbing a handful of hair, giving a pull. This didn't hurt Jak all that much; Daxter pulled his hair on a pretty regular basis while trying to stay on the blond hero's shoulder. It did, however, get enough of his attention to pull him out of dreamland.

"What...?" The guy lifted his head and noted Daxter with one groggy blue eye, eventually sitting up the rest of the way, the ottsel scampering to sit just beyond his lap. "What's up?"

"That's what I wanna know." Daxter said with his arms crossed over his yellow chest. "Is Loor okay?"

"Yeah... last I checked." Jak allowed himself a devious smile which further perked his friend's inquisitive state.

"Whoa, what happened last night? You didn't... like... _take advantage_ of her or anything, didja?"

Jak's face twisted into an expression that questioned anyone's capability of taking advantage of Loor, regardless of her condition. "Wha-? No. Kinda the other way around, once she was up and moving again."

"Score!" Daxter grinned, pumping his fist. "Tess and I were wondering how long it would take you two to get around to doin' somethin'. But wait, if you guys are kinda official, where does Keira end up in all this?"

"Good question..." Jak was peering into the rest of the underground; Torn was awake but clearly ignoring the conversation. "And not really the time to worry about it. I'm sure we've got something we should be doing."

Of course he was right. By the time he'd gotten up, suited up, and given Loor a poke to the shoulder, Torn notified them that Kor wanted to talk to them at the power station; apparently the old man was keeping an eye on the place while Vin took a short break; the guy needed to sleep sometime.

Loor, who was just rolling out of her blanket, made a disgusted noise at the mention of Kor. Daxter would have taken notice, but he was too busy with the more overpowering fact that the girl was alive and well. Hardly out of her pillow, and Loor was treated to an ottsel hug around her middle... which, in case anyone didn't guess from the ottsel getting flung from her bunk, was quite ticklish.

"Jeez!" Daxter was laughing as he got back up from the floor. "Back to the top of your game, eh toots?"

"Never touch my ribs again..." She was holding back a giggle too; she knew that Daxter had small claws, but she hadn't expected to be woken up by them. "You might end up in the ceiling next time."

"Yeah, yeah, I've had worse." The ottsel went back to Jak, crawling up to his friend's shoulder and smirking. "And now I know your weakness!"

"One of them..." The girl was upside-down, looking for her effects. It was good to pull her glove back over the cut on her hand, though it would bother her all day if she had to do any fighting with her juice rod. In moments she had pulled her shirt over her head, strapped on her pistol, and tied her hair back with her scarf, fluffing the tail back behind her back. "And Fury ratted out the big one when we first met you guys."

"Eh?" Daxter questioned as the three of them got moving. "I don't remember..."

"Good!" Loor snickered. "Then I don't have to kill you."

Jak, on the other hand, _did_ remember the event Loor was talking about. It was when they'd all gone to deliver Krew's payment to him. Loor had freaked the hell out from getting shot at and decided to get rather attached to her zoomer. When she would detach to go inside, Fury had threatened to 'have no mercy.'

Something about a sensitive spot at the top of Loor's spine.

Walking behind the girl, he dared to reach out and poke as they reached the top of the stairs.

Loor yelped, practically jumping three feet into the air while trying to turn around, tripping and landing flat on her ass to glare up at the trouble twins... who were both laughing through their shock at her reaction.

"I take that back... Now you both need to die." She growled, quickly getting up and making a move as if she were going to tackle Jak back down the stairs they'd just walked up. Thankfully, Jak had some quick reflexes that prevented him from taking that tumble, dodging out of the way and making a break for the nearest zoomer.

Loor, getting her balance back and giving chase, was right behind him.

* * *

The race to the power station had been much like other times the two had competed; close but no cigar in Loor's case. Jak might have had to worry if she'd been able to find a zoomer as fast as he had, but the extra seconds it had taken her to saddle up on a different vehicle and get into the air were more than enough for a sufficient lead. Still, the fact that she'd caught up and gotten neck-in-neck with him on the way there spoke to her own skills; he'd been forced to actually get down and take her seriously.

"You _sure_ you've never raced before?" Daxter asked as they ditched the zoomers just short of the ramp going up to the power station.

"I told you!" She snickered, high on adrenaline. "Grease-monkey, man. I wasn't tall enough to drive yet... though my uncle offered to let me a few times."

"We gotta get you on a track sometime." Jak snickered, patting her back. "Maybe we'll put _you_ out there for the class-one race."

"What?" She put her hands up in defense. "Dude, I'd kill myself trying to run down Errol!"

"Hey, Jakkie-boy and I have both taken a turn!" Dax pointed out.

"I'm not that good guys, and you both know it..." She sighed, calming down and turning back to her serious demeanor. "_But_ I wouldn't mind a practice run after this is all over... maybe a try at the JET-board?"

"You got it." Jak smirked, leading the way into the power station as the automated door opened. For once Vin was not present; instead Kor was standing in the middle of the room, looking up at the various machines in the room. The crocodog was also present... but the boy was missing.

As soon as the trio entered, Kor turned to them. His eyes were wide, gray-blue orbs that conveyed despair. "I can't believe it! We were so close! The Baron stole the precursor stone right out from under us, and after all of our planning and hard work, Torn as betrayed the cause!"

Loor felt herself hardening to Kor's plaintive and wheezy voice; his act arouse even greater suspicion than it had when she was playing the game, now that she could see his face. Wrinkles twisted into desperation for a new solution only screamed calculation and plotting to her; being a fellow deceiver. Now the disguised metal head spoke to sew unrest into the underground.

Thankfully, Jak was not so easily swayed to distrust. "Torn meant well. He was protecting one of our own."

"We _must_ get that stone back." Kor urged vehemently.

"I'm working on it!" Jak groused back, like a teen who'd been told to take out the garbage.

Daxter echoed him. "Yeah, we're working on it!"

Kor nodded, turning slightly away from the dynamic duo. "I've underestimated this Baron, and now it appears he has taken the boy as well! Think. What will the Baron's next move be?"

Daxter, who had moved to the floor at some point, did as he was told, considering what could be done with the precursor stone. "Well, if I had the precursor stone, with all that power, I'd use it to build a giant palace. A palace with the biggest harem of women the world has ever known, and there'd be a swimming pool filled to the brim with chocolate... slightly minty... yeah, yeah, a massive pool of gooey chocolate! Then the girls and I would jump in together-"

Jak whacked Daxter over the head before he could go on.

"What?"

Kor disregarded the ottsel. "I want you to go out to the drill platform again. If you can destroy the main control tower there, it should temporarily stop the Baron's use of eco to harm us. I've arranged it so the titian suit has been moved out there; you'll need it to get through the tower's defenses and to destroy the controls."

"Back in the tank, huh?" Dax smirked. "Loor's like Lorie-Loor gets to show off some more of her vehicular expertise."

"Oh _joy." _Loor was smirking, despite the heavy sarcasm in her voice. She actually liked the titian suit. Her sour voice came from being around Kor; knowing what he was distracted her...

But the old man also had a way of looking at her. She got the feeling before that he was aware of her extra knowledge, and let just enough of his bestial self show in his expressions to frighten her.

Staring at him, seeing the human shell he wore, and knowing what was under it, made her sick to her stomach. She was too glad to get moving when Jak started walking for the warp ring at the end of the room, not even grousing about the activity of teleporting, which she was not fond of.

Her most recent experiences with warp rings had been in Haven Forest, going from one cliff face to another. This bothered her less because it wasn't a dramatic change in venue, so all she had to deal with was the funny tingle. Going from power station to drill platform, there was a dramatic change in light, smell, temperature, and air-flow. All of this added up to a rather jarring experience that made her knees go momentarily weak, landing just behind the boys.

Jak turned back, giving her a smirk as she looked back at the warp ring and made a face of annoyance, a rude hand gesture going with it before she trotted up to get to the titian suit. Ahead was the entrance to the control tower; a big door of sheet metal that looked like it could slide out of the way... if you had an access code to authorize entry... or a rhinoceros to beat it out of your way.

Thankfully, they had the mechanical equivalent of the latter.

Loor didn't ask who was driving; she was the one with practice. She went over to the titian suit and pulled herself up to the cock-pit, turning herself around as before and letting her feet down into the machine.

It was much more comfortable without the ottsel taking up the little space she had in front of her; not to mention the visibility was better. Once she'd put her weight back the bubble of glass closed in front of her, the suit standing up from it's resting position and the various gauges just beyond the center joystick blinking to life and giving her information. With Daxter out of the way, she could actually read them. There was actually a small dashboard following the curvature of the bubble in front of her, the dials reporting on how much power the suit had, condition of critical mechanisms, and a bubble-level letting her know just how even her footing was.

There was also a gauge reporting on O2 levels inside the cab; next to a switch labeled 'VENT' which was currently toggled to the 'OPEN' position.

A thought passed her mind about the titian suit in the underport; these things were meant to brave various hazardous environments, or so it would seem.

Her in-depth examination of the cab was disturbed when her comm. began to buzz against her hip. Jak was outside, trying to open up communications. Similar to last time she opened the link and then settled the device somewhere where she didn't have to hold it. Only this time, instead of trying to balance on the little stub of a seat she had, she dropped it into the pocket made by the combination of her breasts and her bra.

"_Boob pocket!" _Daxter laughed; he'd been watching. The trouble twins were just outside, waiting several paces to the left of the door she needed to be bashing down.

"_Can we get this moving?" _Jak asked pointedly. _"What did you find in there that was so interesting, anyway?" _

"Just some things I could see with Dax's fuzzy butt in my way last time." She answered, taking the middle joystick to coax the suit the steps it needed to take forward before taking hold of the two side sticks and whaling on the door. In three strikes she'd bent it badly enough for it to fall through its original frame, a loud thud echoing through her connection with the boys.

"_Is it **that **tiny in there?" _Jak questioned, following after her as she opened the way in.

"Why?" Loor questioned; there was a second door for her to beat down after the first one. What was it with Haven and double-blocking everything? It was like their Baron was paranoid or something. "You wanna join me in here? I'd say it's a bit tight for two..."

"_Not if you guys snuggled up real close!" _Daxter cackled.

"Not on your life, Dax." Loor returned brusquely. "If anything like that went down, I'd imagine it would be while no-one was watching."

"_Hey, that tight of a space, and it's practically a lap dance." _Jak was snickering now.

Loor avoided answering by pounding in the next door. She was glad that the boys were currently behind her and she was obscured by a sheet of glass; or they would have noticed she was blushing again.

* * *

**The Author's Corner**

Happy Valentines day!

Somehow I forgot to buy myself chocolate on my way out of work... but I think that was to this chapter's advantage. I dun wanna think of what might have happened under the influence of cocoa... Kor might've done something dangerous.

MEOW.

-Loor


	60. A Farewell

**CLEANED UP**

**Clean up notes for this chapter: **A neat little re-cap of what's been done with the VC-M1, and a sad little bit with Vin that is practically new. MEOW!

**Disclaimer: I don't own Jak and Daxter.**

**Vacation or War  
****Chapter Sixty- A Farewell**

Loor had been a little disturbed when she'd seen metal heads in the control tower. She'd figured, while playing the game, they were just cannon fodder enemies to populate the level with. Here, the fact that there were animals on the inside of one of the Baron's supposedly secure buildings, made her mad at the tyrannical man; he'd been dumb enough to let the metal heads dig their claws into just about anything. Still, they didn't cause much difficulty on their little trek through the building, just a little shock.

The suit came in handy for various things, knocking down reinforced doors and crossing hazards like lasers meant to keep out the unwanted to flip the fail-safe switch. Also, when they finally came upon the massive service elevator that would take both blond hero and girl in the tank-suit up the the control room proper, it was the ideal tool for busting things up. Several computers looked like perfect places to start bashing away and ripping out wires, shattering and wrenching metal apart.

A female computerized voice began talking to them when Loor started working. It complained that the system had been damaged, but that wasn't nearly enough to get Loor to stop, simply moving on to the next computer had had more than enough bright lights to annoy her and give her a headache... which was all of them.

It was only when the voice stopped complaining and started threatening that anyone listened.

"_Control systems critically damaged. Self-destruct sequence engaged." _

"Seriously?" Loor questioned to the top of her bubble; this was one thing she'd been hoping was just a game mechanic.

Jak didn't answer her question, just yelling through the comm. unit. _"That thing is too slow! Ditch it!" _

"_Self-destruct in five minutes." _

Nothing like impending doom to light a fire under someone; the girl didn't need much more encouragement, getting her weight up and off the back of her seat so the suit would settle down and let her out, leaping from the cockpit while putting her comm. unit back in her hip pouch, not trusting the boob pocket to hold it while she ran. Jak was already by the elevator, waiting for her and bouncing to keep the blood flowing. Once they got back on ground level, it would be a mad sprint back to the entrance.

There was no talking once they were both in he elevator and it was moving back down. Both teens were staring at the door, and not even Daxter dared to make any jokes until their asses were out of the fire.

The elevator door opened, and they ran. Their run in with the titian suit had disabled all major security devices and permanently opened all of the doors, so it was a good and clean path from point A to point B. Not that it wasn't dangerous; any structure attached to the Drill Platform had a bad habit of having open spaces in the floor to look down at the giant drill below without guardrails around them. Thinking about it, most of Haven city was far from OSHA approved.

Loor's side was beginning to burn when the exit came into view... and then they were there! She skidded to a stop once they'd made it out the front door, but Jak grabbed her by the arm and drug her away from the condemned building. The thing was about to blow it's top, and nobody knew with just how much force that would be.

Jak would rather be on the other side of the warp gate when it went.

Loor didn't argue, taking the hop through and landing hard, scrambling to get out of the way since she knew Jak would be right behind her. He landed just a second later, looking into the power station to find Kor was still standing there, a questioning look on his face.

"Shut it down! The tower's about to blow itself up!"

Shock took, the man thumping a few steps over with his walking stick at a surprisingly quick rate to flip a switch, looking back to the warp gate to see the blue energy from the inside of the ring vanish. Now, when the tower blew, shrapnel wouldn't come through and bean someone on accident.

It was a comforting thought that they'd been properly disconnected from the danger zone.

"Good work..." Kor wheezed, his act changed slightly to act like an elder who'd just gotten hit by a nasty shock. "That should slow the Baron down for some time. The underground is in your debt."

"Whole city is gonna owe us by the end of this..." Daxter groused. "And for some reason I doubt they're gonna pay up."

"What's next?" Loor asked from where she'd gone and clung to the railing near the warp-ring. She took back her earlier thought; the only place in Haven that would pass OSHA inspection would probably be the power station, but that was because Vin was awesome.

"Not sure..." Jak was, of course, level headed as could be. Not rattled at all by the fact that they'd nearly been blown up. "The class-ones are today in a couple of hours... I'm sure we can find something to do."

Loor nodded slightly, looking over to Kor. "When is Vin going to be back? I... wanted to talk to him."

"Any time now." Kor assured.

"You gonna wait up for him?" Jak asked.

"Yeah." Loor nodded, finally taking a few calming breaths and standing on her own once more. "I'll meet up with you guys back at the stadium so I can wish you luck before the race."

"Luck?" Daxter laughed. "Baby, when he's got me, he don't need luck!"

"Right, because ottsels are _so_ aerodynamic." She reached up to pet the orange fuzzy. She was surprised when Jak wrapped her up in a quick hug, but pleasantly so, returning the squeeze before watching them both trot out the door.

That left her alone... with Kor.

She remembered her last encounter with the wolf in sheep's clothing; it had been quite terrifying for her. Somehow, some way, Kor knew who she was. He'd known her real name, despite the fact that she'd never told him what it was and only her nickname had been used around him. Onin could have mentioned, but it was more than that. Now that they had the room to themselves, he didn't bother looking like a weak old man. No, his face had a strange smile on it as he watched her, mysterious and dangerous.

"Are you brave... your just stupid?" He asked, watching her from across the bright room.

"What's to be afraid of?" She snorted, finding it much easier to keep her nerves under control now. "As long as the shield wall is up, you're stuck in that pitiful shell... revealing yourself prematurely, before you're at full power, would be too risky."

At these words, surprise showed his face again. Genuine surprise; there was no acting here. Then... a sly smile. "Onin told me you knew more than you were letting on... but I had doubts on just how much. I'm naturally wary of those who have left their normal bounds within time; but most are stupid and too shell-shocked to do anything with whatever knowledge they might have."

"There's been others?"

"Of course. Come one, in the world of man, come many. They either find their place... or lose their way. But they all _smell_ the same to me. Plant life this world has never had; lest not that we remember. Everyone who's come from your side of the Calamity smells that way. Onin was quite ready to send you back some time ago... had I not insisted there must be some way to help keep you alive on the other end. Of course there isn't, but it did delay her until you decided to stay long enough to see this through... I can't very well let you get away so easily. Let someone warn the past, the future won't have much of a chance, will it?"

"What makes you so sure you've caught them all?" Loor questioned. She thought of Morgan; someone who had clearly slipped through Kor's talons.

"They're all so convinced they're somehow _special._ It attracts them to adventuring... hunting... When the truth is they all had the same _accident. _You think you're special too, don't you? Why else would you have survived thus far? And insisting on keeping an eye on everything. You must feel like you're some sort of authority on events here... the rights and wrongs of the world..."

Kor moved from where he'd been standing, thumping towards her, though his walking stick was something of an afterthought to complete the illusion of his disguise.

"So many men get convinced of that too easily; that they're somehow special. That something happened for a reason, that maybe some kind of god _picked _them. They're sure they can't fail... which is the same illusion that's given you the salt to face me down, despite knowing what I am, isn't it? You _think_ you're unique, immortal in a sense..."

The beast showed through in a strange way. Kor's smile displayed no fangs, and his human shell was clearly in place, but she could sense the animal just beyond the skin, wanting to rip her apart. He figured he had her cornered, attacking some sort of core belief that had given her power.

But he was quite wrong. She knew she wasn't particularly special. Smart, maybe, too smart for her own good... but somehow chosen to go on a crazy adventure? No. She knew she was here on an accident she'd made, and that there was no other-worldly circumstance involved. As for her own mortality... she'd faced it a few times to think she was immune to death.

No, her guff to face him came from the fact that she _knew, _a cold hard fact, that he couldn't attack her just yet. He couldn't risk revealing himself.

"Hardly." She snickered in his face. "I'm nothing special. Just a little crazy."

His brow came down, a sure sign of anger and frustration, but he didn't get the chance to show it. At that moment, the door opened and Vin walked in. Kor pulled back, relaxing into his usual posture and mannerism, going over to meet Vin with a grandfatherly smile.

"Welcome back."

"Thanks Kor." Vin said with a smile, looking happy to be getting back into his fortress. "It was great for you to watch the place... I needed to take a break and- Hey, Loor! What are you doing here?"

Loor felt a smile come up, though it was bittersweet. Yes, she had a few reasons to talk to Vin, but the biggest one was this; she'd made good friends with the paranoid man. He'd been a great help when she'd first landed, a guiding hand that had helped her stay sane until she got her feet under her...

And she knew he was going to die soon. When everything went to hell, and metal heads came to rip Haven city apart, Vin would be cornered in his own safety net and killed by the very creatures he made every effort to safeguard himself from.

She couldn't save him, nor warn him. As much as she wanted to, all she could do was say goodbye.

"I just wanted to give you a general update on..." She cleared her throat, looking at Kor. "Things."

Kor took the hint, nodding and heading for the door. "Good luck my friends. I feel we're nearly to the end of this... victory is at hand."

"I wonder what he'll do when this is all over..." Vin mused as the door shut behind the disguised monster. "He'll be welcome in Haven, but maybe he'll want to go back to the wasteland..."

Loor shook her head, not setting Vin straight. "I've finally got it all figured out." She said, not really sure on where to start. "We were right."

"Huh?" Vin blinked, looking at her with a small measure of bewilderment. "Wait... you mean...?"

She nodded. "The Calamity actually happened. I'm from the _past_ of this world. We must have destroyed ourselves... and the precursors showed up just in time to clean up the mess. With all of the tech they had dealing with time travel, I'm betting they prepared for someone to screw around with the time line. Keira found out that there is a multitude of precursor devices, all exactly the same, that all went defunct at the exact same time, set up all around the world, buried so far under ground. We found evidence that it's one of these devices, a converter, and reacted with my device, the VC-M1, and the eco it produced..."

"Why?" Vin questioned. "What would be wrong about this world discovering eco before the precursors gave it to us?"

"I'm guessing we needed to be weak enough to receive them." She sighed. "My culture... at least the dominate ones, were all about shoot first and ask questions later. If the precursors had showed up while we were still at the top of our game, or if we'd discovered eco on our own and turned it into weaponry... we would have tried to kill them. We needed the disaster; we needed to be defenseless. The converters were probably set up in a perfect grid pattern went plenty of overlap to compensate for plate tectonics, making a detection field. Any eco, whether produced or brought back by someone who crossed the line, would cause the closest device to react and fling them forward again to where they wouldn't cause any trouble, also neutralizing the eco source.

"The precursors had the tech to go back and implement such devices, and then when they actually met our race in the regular time line they could simply run around and deactivate them all. I think there's also one more piece to the converter... there's no actual proof, but somehow my appearance was altered when arrived. Basic structure, my genetics, was untouched, but when I landed I had ears. Again, I don't doubt it being within the precursors' power... but yeah. That's everything."

Vin nodded slightly; he looked both elated and a little shocked that the girl he was looking at was older than written history. "The how, the why, and the whens... But then why does your world know about this one as... well, a fictional experience?"

"There's someone else like me around here. She's been quietly following Jak since his adventures started; and she'll eventually go back and try to tell the world... but they won't believe her. I imagine that when that happens she'll be desperate to get it out into any medium... even fiction, just as long as people will know what she risked life and limb, and likely sanity, to find out."

"So this isn't the first time this has happened... but you came here with the knowledge." Vin mused, nodding. "And getting home? Have you figured that one out?"

"Onin." She answered. "She can send me back... I don't know exactly how, but I trust the woman to know what she's doing. She's practically a modern sage."

"So..." He paused for a moment, searching for loose ends in his head. "That's it. You can get out of here and go back to your old life." He looked at her. "Are you going to...?"

"Not till the victory party." She answered. "I have to make sure... I have to see this to the end."

Despite his paranoid self, Vin smiled at her.

"It's been great working with you." She said, offering a hand to shake. "Shame I can't brag about it back home."

"You could... but they might think you're crazy." Vin took the hand, a moment of mutual respect shared. "Good luck."

"You too." She returned, letting go and turning for the door. "Goodbye."

She walked quickly, hiding the fact that she wanted to weep until she'd made it safely outside and away from the building.

* * *

**The Author's Corner**

I sure miss 'ol Vin...

XDDD GOD I AM MEAN!

_And_ it's going to get worse... We're entering the final bits of this story and rushing up to the end game fast. If my calculations are correct (now I sound like Vin... X.x) this fic is going to finish out at seventy chapters. Yeah. Exactly double length. FOR THE WIN!

Yet to be seen...

-Loor


	61. Confrontation

**CLEANED UP**

**Clean up notes for this chapter: **Practically new, as several of the chapters have been. Big intense scene with Keira.

**Disclaimer: I don't own Jak and Daxter. Meow. **

**Vacation or War  
****Chapter Sixty One- Confrontation**

Like the last two events, Loor had expected the stadium square to be somewhat quiet since it was still quite some time before the race. What she'd underestimated was the draw of the big race; support had been growing for Jak since he'd been the underdog victory of both the class three and two races. Betting was one thing, but the other was the general air of rebellion. Tonight there might be some people who would make a killing in betting, but there was also a chance that the Baron's right hand man would be dethroned and a new racing champ would take the crown... and with it show that challenging the Baron's regime was indeed possible.

Something was going to change tonight, and everyone knew it. The stadium square was more than flooded with people from every class, making the wide open space feel cramped and crowded. People were already entering the stadium proper, even though the race had to be a while off yet.

Loor had walked to the stadium and seen the crush into the square from the outside; the crowd went out into the streets beyond traffic had practically stopped, some shops closing up for the owners to go and watch, others featuring racing merchandise to monopolize on the economic opportunity. Nudging her way through, between groups of people talking excitedly, and getting more than one ear to the face from quickly turned heads as she tried to get by without giving out any hard shoves, she couldn't imagine finding Jak in such a massive amount of confusion. It was only the stadium looming above her that kept her going in the right direction. Otherwise, she would have gotten turned around.

Things were a little more broken up on the stadium steps; bookies were taking last minute bets, yelling out odds and names. The clusters of people were still huge, but at least they had particular points to focus on, leaving small paths that were easier to seek and slip through.

"Loor!"

The girl had all of a second after she heard her name yelled before she was picked up from behind in a bear hug that was customary for the person who'd greeted her. "Ack!" She yelped, kicking out at first before laughing slightly. "Ryan, put me down!" She turned once the tall ex. KG complied, smiling up at the tan man. She couldn't compete with his beaming grin, but it was good to have a friend in a crowd. "Come to see the action?" She asked, voice raised over the general chatter.

"Of course! This is huge! No one has ever had a chance against Errol before." Ryan let off a giggle that further cemented the gay vibe he put off. "Who'd ever think that scrap of a kid would have broken out and caused all of this when the guard first captured him?" Ryan then lifted his head and looked around the crowd from his considerable height. "Speaking of, aren't you usually attached to him? Where is he?"

"I was just looking for him..." She muttered, feeling shorter than usual in the crowd.

"Use your unit." Ryan advised. "He's on your map, isn't he?"

She could have hit herself; she'd forgotten how the comm. units acted as tracking devices when need be. She pulled it from her hip to check the map display and finding Jak wasn't far off; up the stairs and just short of the entrance to the garages. He was just hanging out there, not moving as far as she could tell. She tried to look up that way, but there were too many people in the way no matter how she craned her neck to see over them.

"Find him?" Ryan asked, moving to look over her shoulder. "Well, go on! You gotta give him a kiss for good luck, right?"

Loor snapped a look to the tall blond. She didn't say anything, but her facial expression was enough to convey the question of how the hell he knew about that.

"Morgan decided to keep an eye on you, too, honey." Ryan snickered, grinning. "She saw the whole thing. She'd just been making sure you didn't die of an eco shortage, but when those juicy moments right after popped up..."

"Where's your sister? I'm going to kill her."

"Hiding in plain sight." Ryan grinned, giving Loor a push to where she'd been looking in hopes of sighting Jak before working her way up the steps. "Go get 'em, sweetie."

"Meet me for the race!" She called back before pushing her way up, a little more assertive now that she had an actual goal. It wasn't till she made the top of the steps that she was able to make visual contact, but once she did she yelled and waved till Daxter took notice of her, who of course pointed her out to Jak. She thought they'd just been hanging out, but by the way Jak reacted by pushing his way through the crowd she got the feeling that the two had been looking for her.

"Babe!" Daxter had his fuzzy hands out like he expected a hug... or an explanation. "What took ya?"

"Talking to Vin." She answered; it was true that she'd taken some time the the scientist, but the truth was she'd walked until her face didn't feel damp anymore, and then didn't feel like driving at all. At mention of the man she felt some of the weight on her shoulders again, wanting to curl up with a blanket and hide away. "Not to mention half of the city was kinda in my way once I got close enough."

"Yeah, you think all these people are gonna fit in there?" Dax asked while smirking. "Great part is, since we never hang out after the races, these people hardly know our faces. I mean, I love my public, but it's impossible to keep your fur straight when everyone wants to pet you."

"I wouldn't know..." Loor muttered, shaking her head and shrugging. "Figured you guys would go hang with Keira before the race instead of standing out in the open though. Errol's prowling about somewhere, and I'm sure there's gotta be plenty of guards around too.."

"Jakkie-boy wanted to wait up for ya." Dax said before Jak could answer the unspoken question of why. "Now that you're here, shall we?"

Loor shot a look to Jak, who dared to flash a smirk at her. She didn't return it, annoyance pumping through. She wouldn't deny the night before, but that didn't give him the right to drag her into a scene she'd rather avoid, since this was when him and Keira were supposed to kinda make up for the spat they'd had before the class-twos. It was also when the rift-rider would be presented to the trouble twins so they could search for the two missing pieces. She'd really rather not be standing there, but it was looking as if she didn't have a choice as the boys turned and went for the garages.

Following, she put her head down and hooked her thumbs on her belt, trying to be invisible.

Keira was just coming out from behind her green curtain as the three of them arrived; Samos was also present, looking up as the trio entered. Loor hung as far back as she could without scooting right out the door, but Keira noticed her anyway.

"Loor!" The blue haired mechanic had the hint of a smile, but the outsider's presence also made her uneasy. "Uh... what are you doing here?"

Samos reached out to his daughter, touching her elbow to get her attention. "It's okay. She knows."

Loor blinked at Samos, not actually surprised that the sage knew her predicament but feeling violated all the same, taking a step past Jak and asking a question at the exact same time Keira did, their voices overlapping as both demanded an answer to the question of how. In Keira's case it was how Loor knew, and in Loor's case it was how did Samos know that she knew.

Before Samos could answer, Jak broke in. "I told her. We work together."

Keira glanced to Jak, looking away again quickly and nodding slightly. "Oh... okay."

"I'm trying to find a way home too." Loor added, hoping to give Keira a little more balance. "That's why I asked for your help."

"Really? Where... _when_ did you come from?"

"I don't know." The girl lied. She did know now, but she imagined ousting the fact that she was from a time further back than Sandover would not be a good admission. "Either way, you've already helped me a _lot. _You just worry about your own stuff, okay?" She then glanced about, noting that she'd bust out in front of the boys and backing off again. "Just... just pretend I'm not here right now."

Jak caught Loor's hand before she could back all the way behind him, keeping her at his side. This got a side-ways glance from Keira, who still looked to be struggling with the whole situation. Still, she couldn't stall; the race was coming up and she had something to show those assembled. Shaking her head to clear it, she got back to the task at hand. "I'll show you guys what I'm working on, if you promise not to laugh."

Daxter, oblivious to all the possible underlying teen angst, grinned. "_Oooh! _I love surprises! And I love to laugh! Show me, show me!"

Keira, turning to her green curtain, pulled it aside to reveal the vehicle beyond. She'd been working on it all this time; working on a way home. "I've been building a replica of our crashed rift rider machine from old artifacts."

"That's my girl!" Samos praised.

"But I'm still missing two pieces." She pointed out before anyone else jumped in to congratulate her.

"Figures..." The sage muttered.

Keira indicated a few pages that had been pulled from her books, tacked to the wall. "Vin says I need an artifact called the 'time map' and an old energy gem history books call the 'Heart of Mar.' And I've looked in every book on Precursor history I can find, but the rift ring seems to have vanished!"

"That's useful." Jak said rather stoically. The change from what he usually said felt like a cold stone in Loor's gut.

Daxter got irritated, as he always did, with people being emo around him. "Oh, will you two stop moping around and make up already!"

Jak nodded, taking the suddenly realizing something. "I've seen the Heart of Mar! Krew has it. We'll get those two artifacts."

Keira was about to say thank-you, but was interrupted by the computerized PA system that ran through the whole of the city.

"_Attention all drivers. The class one championship race is about to begin." _

Jak looked up, since that meant him, and hefted a slightly tense sigh. He was feeling the butterflies. "Well... here goes. The race of my life!"

Loor noted that he was still holding her hand, and despite how she felt about the somewhat public display of affection, she gave him a squeeze of encouragement. He glanced to her, a small hint of a smile and a nod exchanged before he let go of her, making a move for the door.

Keira took her chance.

"Jak..." She said to stop him. "I just wanted you to know... well, you're the best racer I've ever seen."

This was supposed to be the big make-up scene. Jak was supposed to smile at her, since that was originally what she'd said about Errol, and all would be well between them. Instead he saved his smile, a slight nod given before Daxter broke in with his usual shenanigans.

"Hey!" Dax yelped. "What about me? I helped us get here!"

Jak raised an eyebrow at his friend and partner. "Do you wanna drive?"

"Against that crazy loon Errol? No way! You got the handlebars, brother." Daxter held himself for safety. "And you better keep us alive or I will never speak to you again! Obviously."

Jak snickered before continuing out the door.

Loor felt sick to her stomach. This scene had changed in all the ways she hadn't wanted it to. The classic couple of Jak and Keira were supposed to be back together at this point, all things forgiven and forgotten. Jak was acting like he was okay with Keira again... but certainly not very interested beyond that. Keira looked unsure too, staring after where the blond hero had exited, not shouting her final nugget of encouragement.

"Jak..." She muttered.

"We should go and watch." Samos suggested. "This will be an event not to be missed."

"Go ahead, daddy." Keira said, still staring. "I'll be right behind you in just a minute."

"Loor?" Samos looked up. "We have an area on course-level to watch for team-owners, thanks to Keira."

"I got a friend waiting for me in the cheap seats." She answered quickly. "I'll see you guys after."

The green sage nodded, moving and leaving the two girls alone. It was tense, particularly when Keira looked away from the way out of the garage and over to Loor. Still, the raven haired girl didn't deny her proper eye-contact. She looked back, feeling and looking guilty.

"Was it you?" Keira asked against all the obvious signs. "He picked you...? Or... did you...?"

"I didn't try to take him." Loor quickly defended. "And _you_ hurt him."

"What?" The mechanic demanded. "What are you talking about?"

All she had wanted to do was to deflect the idea that she'd actively gone after Jak, but her tongue began moving faster than she could stop it. Once she'd opened her mouth, she went from defense to offense, returning the accusation with one of her own. There was a lot of things she'd always wanted to say to Keira... and faced with the opportunity...

Well, she just couldn't help herself.

"You assumed he was a monster before you knew anything." She answered back. "You listened to the rumors without even asking him what the truth was, getting on his case about who's help he used and his methods, forgetting the fact that he's got shit he's gotta do. Yeah, the Baron pumped him full of dark eco, but he needed your support, not for you to be afraid of him!"

"So you just waltz right in behind my back and do it for me?" Keira snapped. "What the hell do you know? _I _grew up with him, and he's not the guy I knew! I'm just supposed to accept it and move on? Don't tell me _you're _not scared!"

"When I actually see it?" She snorted. "Yeah. Fucking terrified. But I understand that he and the animal are two different things."

Keira stopped short. "Wait... you mean...? You told me... the rumors weren't true..."

"The rumors assume he _is_ the monster, just like you did." Loor's voice was still hostile. "He's still Jak. Two years in prison will fuck a guy up, but he still is himself. He still cares about you, he's just pissed that you judged him the same way the rest of the city did." She took a deep breath to calm herself; taking a step forward and clapping Keira on the shoulder. "Listen... I didn't want this. I don't. He's not supposed to be mine, he's supposed to be yours. I've tried to push him back towards you, but he doesn't want someone who won't support him just because she heard something from the grapevine. I said what I said to you in hopes that you'd... make amends _before _he got too attached to the thought that I might be a good idea. You two are _meant _to be together. I know that for a universal fact."

Keira mulled this over for a while, not looking at Loor directly. She picked a spot on the floor, her gaze intent and unblinking.

Finally, she asked a question.

"You really don't want him? Like... you don't like him at all?"

Loor winced. "I certainly do like him. I admire him, he's good looking, and he understands me... but he was yours first. It's not my right to butt in... what I've already done is beyond wrong. He may be my hero, but he's your friend."

She took a deep breath. She got the feeling that after this conversation, essentially taking all the blame, if things didn't work out Keira was going to hate her. Still, it was the truth; it _was_ all her fault. She was the third wheel, the 'other' woman, getting in and messing things up. She had unfair advantages, not least of which being the fact that she had a similar affliction as Jak. Practically living with him also tilted the playing field.

"I'm sorry." She continued in the silence. "It all just kinda... happened. If you wanna still go after him, I promise I won't get in your way. Actually, I'll be getting out of your way as soon as I can."

"What do you mean by that?" Keira asked quietly. Her voice reflected the fact that she felt hurt and betrayed.

"I'm getting the hell out of Dodge." She answered. "Onin already knows how to send me back home, I just want to see things through to the end here before I take off. It won't be long before I'm gone, and I'm never going to come back. It... it doesn't really matter if anything is going on between me and Jak, because I'll be leaving." She sighed, shaking her head. "Please. He needs you. This isn't my place."

Keira nodded slowly, waving Loor on to tell her to leave. She hesitated, afraid to leave the conversation on such a tense note, but there was nothing else she could do.

"He's my hero too..." Keira muttered.

Her voice was cracked with tears.

* * *

**The Author's Corner**

I like Keira a lot more than I used to, and it's through the re-write that I've gained a bit more respect for the girl. She was still cool in Jak II, though her retardation with the dark eco is really what shot her in the foot for most of the game. I loved her in the first game, when she was the kick-ass girl mechanic who openly batted her eyes real pretty at Jak while almost literally beating Dax off with a stick. There was no question of where she and Jak stood with each other, they just needed five minuets without Daxter to express themselves...

Then the second came along, Jak changed, and Keira didn't. She didn't grow with him, and that's where the couple started to fall apart for me. And then there's the BS with Ashelin in Jak 3... yeah that shit's getting edited big time. Keira needs to talk more, and do more than stand there and look serious in the map room.

But seriously Keira; if you decide you're gonna like a guy, fuck the rumor mill. Either you care or you don't.

-Loor


	62. Intention

**CLEANED UP**

**Clean up notes for this chapter: **Trucking along, setting up for a big scene down the line... meow. Loor feeling all guilty. X.x

**Disclaimer: How many times have I said this now? I DON'T OWN JAK AND DAXTER. BITCHES.**

**Vacation or War  
****Chapter Sixty Two- Intention**

When Loor entered the stadium, it was a willing risk of going deaf. The noise was beyond what human ears were ever meant to take, a multitude of fans screaming support for either Jak or Errol, though most of the support was clearly for the underdog. Coming in after everyone else had already crammed their way in, Loor was left to stand at the top tier in the nosebleed section, looking down and hardly able to see the track.

It didn't matter; she already knew how this scene ended. The race was already going, zoomers speeding around the turns, going too fast to identify the drivers from afar. Usually she'd be excited, shoving her way down to watch Errol's defeat and death, but for the moment she had too much weight on her brain to be enthusiastic.

She'd stolen Jak from Keira. As much as she'd like to deny the responsibility, she had instigated a lot of the romance between them; flirting and taking part in physical activities like wrestling around with him. She'd just been herself, never realizing what she was doing until after she'd done it.

And then, the night before, she'd kissed him. She'd done right the first time; keeping him from kissing her, but then she'd gone and kissed him. The ramifications of her action hit her now. She'd kissed a man who was, at least partially, committed to another girl. She'd likely wrecked a relationship, and assisted in the act of cheating.

She felt rather sick with herself. The warmth and giddy joy that had been going through her the night before removed and cemented as guilt and shame.

"_LOOR!" _

It was a near-scream that had finally carried over the din and gotten her attention; the girl looked up to find Ryan a few rows of seats down, waving at her and showing that he'd saved a spot for her, somehow, against the crush of people. Forcing her feet to move, she pushed and shoved her way down.

"Can you see at all?" Ryan yelled over everyone else's screaming. "It's almost over! One more lap!"

"Hardly!" The girl shouted back; she was too short to see over most of the people present. "It's okay though, I don't need to see it!"

"Yeah you do, it's your guy down there!" Ryan bellowed, suddenly bending and, without asking, picking Loor up onto his shoulders. The girl yelped, but didn't argue as she was suddenly given a great vantage point to see all the action below. The snatches of the track she'd been able to catch over people's heads were now clear and complete with the rest of the course.

The pack had been narrowed down to just four racers from the original eight; and that went to three as a zoomer was forced off to the side and into the wall on a tight turn. The explosion took Loor out of her funk and brought her into the sport, leaning over Ryan's head between her legs and hanging on to his shoulders with her legs as her eyes followed the choice lines on the course and watching how the two leading zoomers followed them. Those two _had_ to be Jak and Errol. They were too close together for them both to have the optimal racing line, often bumping to try and shove one zoomer or the other off to the side and mess up their game.

There was a sharp curve right before the finish.

One of the zoomers pulled head, making the turn and dropping the hammer. The other followed. The third crashed into the wall, faked out by the other two.

The two surviving zoomers crossed the line. The winner slowed to a stop; blond hair showed once he wasn't moving so fast. Jak stood victorious, the noise of the stadium raising up a few more notches.

The other racer passed by for another lap. Loor noticed this at once, her nails digging into Ryan's head without her realizing it. Ryan didn't complain, or at least not loud enough for her to notice.

There was a platform floating over the finish line that came down to be on the course. On it was at least thirty barrels of raw eco, two KG, and Baron Praxis himself. He was a tank of a man, the platform coming down in a way that was customary to take the winner and present him to the people... but this wasn't going to go as planned. Thankfully, before the platform came all the way down, the most important prize had been lowered within Jak's reach.

The purple security pass; the one that would let him into the palace.

When Jak turned to face the Baron, Praxis was clearly shocked. Words were traded, and the noise dulled as those in the rows closest to the track realized that the Baron wasn't happy with the outcome of the race.

An order was given; the two guards tensed on their weapons, aiming for the point-blank kill shot.

Errol came zooming around the final corner before the finish line, finishing his extra lap. He was aimed to run Jak down, but everyone that was standing just past the line noticed him coming and leapt out of the way.

Errol's zoomer collided with the eco barrels. The explosion was deafening and gigantic; the perfect distraction that allowed Jak to run for it. Errol was sure to be killed in the blast, and the Baron was tossed off to the side and disoriented.

Ryan let Loor down quickly, giving her a push towards the exit. He didn't even ask if the girl wanted down or wanted to follow after Jak, he just assumed and gave her the extra shove to go.

She didn't need it; once she was on the ground she was using her smaller body to her advantage, slipping through the sudden rush for the exit. The Baron's right hand man had just been killed, and no-one wanted to stick around for what Praxis might to do remedy the situation. The alarm was up, a blaring horn signaling to all that guards were on the way that would be armed and shooting to kill.

Loor squirmed free of the crowd, getting ahead and running. She was faster than the townies; something she'd blame on the past couple weeks of getting the living piss beaten out of her physically. Running, hunting metal heads, chasing after Jak, and running some more did some good things for a person's legs. Getting ahead of the tidal wave of people, she could see Jak had already ran down the steps and was sprinting for the nearest zoomer.

She put her head down and pumped her legs, taking the stairs several at a time and jumping the last five, bending her knees to adsorb shock and dropping her hands to the ground for a moment before launching off again. There was a vehicle parked just a few yards beyond, and he was nearly to it when he noticed her making the same crazed run for it.

In the moments of frantic adrenaline, he grabbed the zoomer and held it steady for her to vault on, smirking. "Your turn to race."

She didn't argue, hardly breaking stride to leap up onto the vehicle and scooting forward for him. Daxter was on next, first scrambling up onto Loor's back and then down around her body to curl up in the space between her and the handlebars, figuring balled up against her stomach would be the safest place from KG gunfire.

Jak had just got on behind her when the guards arrived from the other direction; red cruisers and zoomers opened fire before they even cleared the corner, but she wasn't paying attention. She put her head down, aimed, and shot off towards the canals. She took the waterways, able to cut through the city section without traffic or other incident, flying out at the border with the agricultural section, twisting her way towards the bazaar and through it. Her goal was the palace; now that Jak had the necessary security pass to get inside.

Instead of sneaking about, he could walk right in the front door.

Somewhere between agriculture and the bazaar, they'd shaken their pursuit. Loor didn't let off the gas, but she did sit up just a little bit. Daxter, no longer feeling so threatened, returned to his usual shoulder.

"Where should I meet you after you go up there?" Loor asked.

"You're not coming with?" Daxter questioned before Jak could. "C'mon toots, we're a team!"

"Yeah, but I'm not in a big hurry to piss off the _entire palace's _security system, get locked in, and have to find a secondary way out. I'll leave that one to the heroes, ah?"

Dax considered this for a few moments before leaning over by Jak's face. "Can I stay with her?"

"Dax!" Loor snickered. "Great team-player you are!"

"Alright, alright, I'll go up there!" Daxter huffed. "But we'd better come back alive!"

They'd made it through the bazaar, coming up on the palace square and going around the base of the tower to the door; Jak's entrance. Loor slowed down some, gently applying the air breaks. "I'll meet up with you guys at the gun course, okay? I'm gonna stock up on ammo and do a practice run or two..."

"Shit's about to hit the fan, huh?" Jak asked with a smirk, dismounting as the zoomer stopped in front of the huge and imposing door of the palace proper. "Save some for me."

"Depends on how I do on the gun course. You know I just go straight trigger happy when I miss a lot."

"And then you miss more." He pointed out. "See you on the flip side!"

He turned, sprinting up the steps to the door. It reacted to his new security pass, the huge metal portal having several moving parts that swung or slid out of the way to eventually reveal a heavy metal door with the same locking mechanism as the doors that led in and out of the city.

They opened, and Jak walked in, the whole system sealing behind him.

Loor turned the zoomer towards south town and the port, jetting off.

The sun was setting, but she knew there would be no sleep tonight. Jak would meet Ashelin in the palace, and gain the knowledge of a meeting between Praxis and Krew at a weapons factory outside of the city. She'd give him the necessary pass to enter the factory and go after the two to try and disrupt their plans. After that it would be a visit back to Tess at the Hip Hog.

Then all hell would break loose. Tonight, the shield wall would fail.

And metal heads would enter Haven city.

* * *

_**Would you stop making yourself sick? It's beginning to annoy me.**_

Lyra chosen to speak when Loor had just finished a practice run on the shooting range; she hadn't done particularly well, even according to her own learning curve, because she'd been distracted. She kept thinking about what she'd done to Keira, and what she could possible do to fix the situation. Sadly, she could think of nothing. Even if she completely vanished, or went the dramatic way about things and got Jak to hate her, she couldn't make him go back to Keira. That was his choice, and influencing free will was something that was maddeningly beyond her abilities.

The longer her considered these things, particularly ways she might go about getting Jak to get the hell away from her, the more sick she felt.

_I can't help it. _The girl mentally sighed, not denying Lyra's wish to converse. She sat down on one of the ammo boxes she hadn't broken into, leaning on the rough stone wall and relaxing. _Last night was like a dream, and today I woke up and realized the nightmare I'd gotten myself into. _

_**Ick... stop with the dramatics. Is it that terrible that you might've pissed off someone? You don't seem to have that issue with Errol. **_

_I hated Errol as much as he hated me. Keira... she might've been my friend. But this is about more than that; the flow of things. I've made changes to what was meant to happen-_

_**Oh you don't care about that shit anymore. I can feel it; this is about the people. You're pussyfooting because you're afraid of hurting someone who never did anything wrong to you. It wouldn't matter if it was Keira or some stranger on the street; you're a wuss. **_

_No, I'm considerate! I don't like to walk on other people's toes when there's no need for it! Get in my face, I'll knock your block off, but now I'm the one to deserves to get whacked! _

_**Why? Because you kissed him? Because in the right situation you might have gone ahead and taken him as your own? You might have done something in your life in self interest? I've seen you and your memories; you're the first one to make a sacrifice to help someone. You'd rather lose a limb before you lose a friend, or see them even the slightest bit unhappy, but if you keep giving yourself away there isn't going to be anything left! **_

_Yeah... I care about those I know. If I can help I will. I'll put them before myself... so what?_

_**GET IN HERE! **_

She felt like she'd been seized around the neck, jerked away from the real world and into her own head. She'd been avoiding actually entering her metal world, not wanting to see Lyra after the close scrape with death they'd had, but it would seem with the relative freedom the animal had been granted she was willing to be a bit more demanding.

Suddenly she was laying on the floor of that room, staring up at the black abyss that existed instead of a ceiling, Lyra standing over her and looking down. The beast lifted a foot, putting it on Lauren's head and making the girl realize the animal had talons on her toes similar to the ones on her fingers... and toes similar to her host's, dexterous and slightly longer than the norm.

_**Do you care that I could rip you apart? **_She questioned, contact between them causing the sharing of emotions. Lyra's rage was overpowering, like the reek of sulfur.

_Of course I do._ The girl answered, realizing her smaller and weaker body slowly. She was reminded that inside her mental state she was her old self. Her young self. _You don't just rip me, you rip up my brain. There's more than pain here. Your insanity is slowly infecting me. _

_**Then why do you willingly rip yourself? **_The animal demanded. **_Mixing yourself up between what you want and what you feel you half to do is just as damaging! You silly creature, no wonder I was separating from you before the eco pulled us apart! _**Her talons flexed down, actually grabbing into Lauren's scalp. Lyra lifted her slightly, kicking out her leg to fling her across the floor, making the girl scream and hold her head. _**Has this world rebelled against you in all this time? In the time he held you, did the universe tell you things were going wrong? **_

_It doesn't have to! I felt wrong! It's not my place! _

_**Not your place...? **_Lyra laughed, a harsh noise that still conveyed her rage. This was not her purring giggle; this was a barking snort of resentment mixed in with her amusement. **_It's not your place to want? To desire? If it's not yours, it most certainly is mine, and your body is the only tool I have to take what I want. _**The beast now took a few steps to where Lauren laid, curled up and clutching her head. She bent, tail up, lifting the girl by the front of her green tunic, batting away the hands that hid her face and her frustrated tears. _**You didn't need me to feel those things for him. You just work so hard to deny them... but you will not deny me. I will have what I want, even if I have to kill you. **_

There was a shocked moment. This had been discussed before, that the two were too intimately intertwined to kill one without destroying the other. Of course, these were things Lauren had told Lyra to discourage her from ripping apart bits of her psyche right off the bat, but again in their contact, Lauren could feel Lyra's hostile intentions. There was something of a plan, swimming in the beast's own private mind.

How, she wasn't sure, but Lauren could feel Lyra's pride at a discovery. A way to permanently remove Lauren from the control of her own body, and thus giving that control to Lyra just as permanently. A way for the two to switch places, psyches switching forms.

And oh the things Lyra would do once she was in control of a _human_ body; in control of _Loor's_ body.

Faced with such a possibility, Lauren reacted with fear. She screamed out, shoving Lyra away from her, getting to her feet.

She was wrong to release Lyra's bounds. She was wrong to bind Lyra in a place where she could still hear and see the animal. They were close enough to the end of this, and all of her decisions had been made. She didn't need the animal anymore; she could lock her away again. Lyra would break free _this_ time; Lauren was stronger now. She could contain the animal, keep her out and survive without her.

Still screaming, the bindings came. Lyra's animal roar answered, protesting, but unable to stop it. The room changed in quality, things of comfort vanishing as it became more barren.

Prison-like. This would be Lyra's cage. The place where the animal would stay until their days came to an end.

Lauren was never going to let her out again.

It wasn't worth the risk.

* * *

**The Author's Corner**

Y'know, I feel like we just got to the top of a roller-coaster. Like this whole time the chain has been going up, clicking away, and we've all been clinging to each other as we watch the ground get further and further away...

And now we've finally made the top of the hill.

I dare you to put your hands in the air and yell. Is it fun? XDD

Happy reading,

-Loor


	63. Before The Storm

**CLEANED UP**

**Clean up notes for this chapter: **HOLY HELL! Not much new stuff, but it feels _so_ much better now. MEOW.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Jak and Daxter.**

**Vacation or War  
****Chapter Sixty Three- Before the Storm**

Loor had finally returned to the real world as her comm. unit was going off, alerting her to the fact that someone was calling her. She was somewhat groggy as she answered; blocking Lyra again took a lot of brain power. It felt like she was maintaining a wall of rock with magma trying to eat though it, but she was capable. She'd done it a few times, and was getting continuously better at it. She shoved the awareness of eco away, reaching for her unit and answering.

"Hey." She blinked a few times; it was Jak on the video feed in dim light. Night was coming.

"_Change in plans." _He said quickly. _"Meet us at the air train. You know where that is?"_

"Yeah." She said quickly, the tone of his voice sending a spark up her back that woke her up; it was time to jump back into the game. "See you guys there."

The connection was cut as she put her unit away, getting up and making sure she had as much ammunition as she could carry in her hip pouch, an extra three clips hanging on her belt for easy access. Jak had mentioned he was going to want bullets too, so before leaving she busted open another KG crate and sifted through for yellow slugs that could be used for the blaster and the blue-marked clips that went with the vulcan fury.

Hands full of munition fodder, she turned and went outside. It had been an hour or so since she'd entered the shooting range; the last wink of light was vanishing over the city wall. Stars had begun to show in a small portion of the sky, but a much larger part was taken up by the leading edge of a rolling cloud, blacking out the sky. Taking in a deep breath, Loor could smell the rain that was coming.

A storm was brewing, in more ways than one. She began jogging, tension gathering between her shoulders as she looked around. The streets were oddly empty; it was like people could sense it. What few townies she passed were clearly on their way somewhere. Were they seeking shelter from the coming rain? Or did they, somewhere deep down and primal, know that their lives would be on the line tonight?

She hoped and prayed for every person she saw; she knew many of them were going to die, but she had the right to wish them luck.

The air train was a large carrier-type zoomer, hovering near one of the two support towers that was based in the port section. It required a pass to use, which Jak had. Without it, Loor was left to stand just outside it and wait for the blond hero and his orange partner, fingers starting to cramp from holding all the bullets.

Thankfully, she didn't have to wait very long. The trouble twins arrived a few moments after she did, the train instantly reacting to the pass on Jak's person and the door on the back opening up, allowing entry. They became a trio once more, climbing up and in without a word.

Loor sat down on one of the benches, Jak going to the forward part of the passenger area and messing with an interface there. She didn't get what he was doing at first, but then realized that the air train, though automated, likely had several destinations it could take a person to. He had to tell it where they were going. Once that task was complete the door shut, and the vehicle moved into the air.

Jak came over to sit down next to Loor. She handed over the ammunition she'd collected for him without a word.

Daxter, jumping from Jak's shoulder to the area between the two teens, glancing back and forth between them.

"Uh... hey?" Dax said, directing himself mostly to Loor's dejected face.

"Don't bother with it."

Both Loor and Dax looked over to Jak.

"What?" Daxter asked. "You two are moping again!"

"It doesn't matter right now." Jak said quickly. "Whatever is happening... it ends tonight. I can feel it. All the other shit can be worked out at the victory party."

"We said that a day or two ago..." Loor muttered, a half-smile of spite on her lips. "I jumped the gun."

"No distractions." Jak reinforced. "Right now we're going after Praxis and Krew; either one or the other is going to let us know where the precursor stone is. Once we have it, we'll figure out our next step."

Jak didn't mention how much he was going to pummel Praxis's face in once he caught the Baron.

There was silence in the air train. It would be a little time before they landed, and since Jak had just been so adamant about distractions no one really wanted to speak. There were all sorts of extra issues on the table, but none of them actually mattered besides the fact that the whole of Haven city, and the world, was on the line of Krew and Praxis were allowed to carry out their plan. Praxis had the stone, and Krew had the means with which to crack it open... which would basically incinerate the planet with all the eco energy it contained.

"Don't you wanna know _where_ we're going?" Daxter asked, breaking her out of her thoughts.

She blinked, biting her tongue on saying she already knew. "Uh... right. That might be good to know."

The rest of the ride was filled in by Daxter's long-winded and heavily exaggerated story of what went down at the palace.

Jak rolled his eyes, giving a look to Loor. She smiled back sheepishly; she preferred the ottsel babbling instead of being suspicious of her.

* * *

The war factory was fairly well hidden... or, better put, the entrance was. Anyone could see the massive tower that rose out of the mountainous terrain near where the air train had dropped them, but the way in was up several sharp rises of rock and covered by a combination of trees and being tucked back into a crevice of stone. Just climbing up took some time and teamwork, Jak and Loor taking turns giving each other the boost up to the next level and then reaching back down to help the other follow. Honestly, it would have been doable alone, but things went faster working together.

The door itself was another air-lock style portal, much like the ones in and out of the city. The Baron seemed to like them.

Loor remembered having her gun in hand; she was ready to face down an army of guards if need be. She imagined that was exactly what they'd find; this was a top secrete war factory, manufacturing whatever the Baron asked for. She didn't put much stock in her memories of the game at this point; every time they ended up in a dangerous location it wasn't quite what she thought it would be. The pumping station was far from the platforming adventure it had been in the game, and same went for the drill platform. Places where it had been jumping from place to place to avoid things getting lit on fire and otherwise, it had been a simple catwalk from one elevator to another.

Thus, she figured the innards of the war factory would be much more functional... with a great many more hostiles, since less hazards would mean more spaces for baddies to be standing.

Of course, she considered as she and Jak bored the elevator just beyond the door, she was unlikely to remember most of it. Only the important parts went on to her brain once she started shooting.

As the elevator descended into the war factory, the smell became painful to her nose. She saw Jak and Daxter grimace as well; something reeked in here. It was a smell not unlike sulfur, but there was a sour undertone to it that reminded her of lemon juice and garlic. Thinking quickly, she took the tail of her scarf and wrapped it up and around her nose, tucking the tail under the bit already tied tight to her head. Jak was able to pick the bit that pooled around his neck up and over his nose as well, following her lead.

Daxter, not having anything to protect himself with, just put his head down and clung to Jak's shoulder. There was no time to complain; the elevator had arrived on the main floor.

As expected, Loor's mind detached. She didn't have to count anymore, the fact that they were set upon by guards the moment they made it past the door not such a frantic thing anymore. Instead, she found herself strangely calm, quickly taking cover and thinking rather clearly about where they had to be and when to answer their shots. There was a pattern. One just had to listen.

When there was a pause, that was the time.

Four guards had been blocking the way in; four shells of armor to step over on their way through. She didn't notice when her boots left prints of blood. There were various levels of the factory after that; stairs and escalators linked work floors that were devoid of workers. The smell was at its worst on the lowest level, where pools of yellow-green sludge were contained just below a platform that had access to various pipes, carrying the stuff up into the rest of the building.

It glowed and put off massive amounts of heat; she couldn't wait to go up and away from there. More guards waited as they ascended their way through the factory, but not nearly enough to deter them.

But there was more than guards to try and drive them away.

This was a war factory, after all.

They'd just made it up another floor, finally escaping some of the heat and reek of the lower levels. Though most sense of time had flown out of the window by now, Loor had the feeling that they had to be getting close to the end. That feeling grew stronger when she found the stage they'd just stepped onto was quite barren... with large machines in the corners. They were like huge bins coming down from the ceiling, tapering down to a spherical dispenser that could easily fit a person curled into a ball, or perhaps two people. Below the dispenser was a padded platform that tapered smoothly to the floor.

"I don't like the look of those..." Dax muttered.

As if on cue, the two machines activated in sync, their dispensers opening and each of them dropping a ball-shaped object that was twice the size of a person. These objects were red and silver, metal and painted armor, that rolled away from the platform in a way that they were clearly moving of their own accord, not because of gravity.

The room they had just entered now felt very much like the inside of a pin-ball machine. The two balls bounced around a bit, knocking into each other and the walls once or twice before suddenly popping open; legs and arms folded out, a head at the end of a curved support that was acting as a spine.

The arms had guns on the ends.

"Shoot 'em!" Jak commanded, switching from his blaster to the vulcan fury for some fast and furious bullets, moving as the two robots opened up on them. Loor dove the other direction, first wondering where one shot a robot to be most effective and then disregarding this question to shoot first and ask questions later.

When attacked, the 'bots tucked back into their ball forms and began to bounce about again. Their armor took damage, but they rolled _towards_ the shots, going for the shooter. Thankfully, both Jak and Loor were quite fast on their feet, able to shoot and dodge.

The dispensers dropped another two machines, the same as the first two. It forced the division of attention; the things were both more and less dangerous when rolled up. If they were standing they would aim and shoot, but rolling they moved fast and bounced like ping-pong balls from hell.

Running and skipping to the side of several different near-misses, Loor found herself panting and barely with the time to shoot into the fray, a stitch growing in her side. She also had to be mindful of where Jak was and what direction he was facing; he was going crazy with the vulcan barrel, and stray bullets form her own side was not something she wanted to get hit by.

Hopping back from another big red 'bot, she sprinted to be at his side. It was better to stand by him than to be an obstacle on the course.

As she ran, one of the robots exploded; proof that Jak was doing some damage.

"My gun isn't doing anything!" She complained as she ducked down by him.

"Then screw it!" He answered. "Think batting practice! Go by the things dropping 'em and knock them in!"

She glanced to the dispensers; another pair had just been dropped. He made a good point; if the blast bot she'd tackled days before was anything to go by, the current from her juice rod would likely be able to short a few of them out when she whacked them.

Holstering the gun, she drew her stave, making another crazed run to stand by one of the two dispensers. They were too far apart for her to cover both of them, but she didn't really plan to. No, she watched the crazy bounce-house that was now the main floor, her weapon expanding in her hand and held at the ready.

Three of the 'bots collided, one of them suddenly rolling her way. Instead of diving out of the way, she took a step to the side and wound up with her weapon like a slugger. She felt the sparks coming off of the ends of her juice rod as she squeezed the middle.

She swung.

The impact jarred her arms and shoulders, but she managed to keep her hold on her weapon and force the robot back. It popped open suddenly, which confused her... till it fell over, smoke pouring out of the head piece. It had shorted out. Her success felt even greater as two more explosions sounded in the mess of bouncing that Jak was using for target practice. The dispensers popped open once more, and this time remained open as they both dropped the fourth robot they each contained; the mechanism remaining open was a hint that it was empty. From there it was a simple as taking the remaining bots out, Loor whacking them back in when they strayed too far from Jak's firing range.

In all of the chaos, Loor finally realized that the next door they were after was right behind her, between the two dispensing machines. Another air-lock type door. Heavy.

The way to their final destination.

It had started unlocking before they were done, reacting to her proximity to it. By the time the final 'bot was a smoldering wreck, the door was open and the elevator waiting.

Jak ejected an empty clip from his weapon, switching back into the blaster mod with impressive speed and dexterity while walking over. "Not bad." He said while tucking the gun up against his shoulder; the ready position. "Not even shaking this time."

"Yeah!" Daxter was smirking. "She might even know what she's doing."

She pouted at them for teasing her, but giggled all the same. "Maybe so. Let's move it. The smell of that goo downstairs is killing me..."

"I never remembered yellow eco smelling that bad..." Daxter commented as they hopped the elevator, the door shutting and the platform accelerating up the shaft.

"We never encountered it as a liquid." Jak pointed out. "Always the gaseous clusters and the occasional vent... and it smelled pretty bad then, too."

"It looked kinda green down there..." Loor muttered. "But mixing yellow with green doesn't make any sense."

"Not exactly; the Baron's been screwing around with organic weapons." Jak pointed out; both he and Loor were living examples of that. "I wouldn't be surprised if the guy was dipping people in to see if they'd heal faster than they burned up and then see if they picked up any special abilities after."

"Ick!" Daxter exclaimed. "You got a twisted brain, brother."

"Blame Praxis." Loor snorted. "I could see him doing that too."

She then looked up, able to see the top of the shaft approaching. The boys looked up too, and the conversation quickly died as they all sheathed their weapons. The top of the shaft was dark, signifying open air. If it was just Krew up there, they would want to come up peacefully and try to get some information out.

If Praxis was up there, Jak wouldn't need his weapons.

Of course, Loor knew it was just Krew... and she knew they were heading for a fight anyway.

The elevator arrived.

* * *

**The Author's Corner**

BLARG!

Wait, that's not right... Bah, I like the little discussion at the end of this chapter. Seriously, we could all see Baron Praxis authorizing something like that. Errol's the sick fuck who carries shit out, but the Baron still has to sign off on it. .

PEOPLE WHO HAVE STILL NOT TAKEN A LOOK AT MY DEVAINTART! You really should. Some great shit is going up related to the fic, and it's straight up making me happy. It's the same screen name peeps. LoorTheDarkElf. Check it out. Meow. If you can't find my username, just search 'Loor Vacation or War' and I'm sure something will pop up that I did... also you might run into some fan-made art of this fanfic. Yeah. Fanart for a fanfic. How awesome is that?

I am such an attention whore...

Happy reading,

-Loor


	64. Gamers In Arms

**CLEANED UP**

**Clean up notes for this chapter: **Changes to dialog, how the boss-battle went down, ect. ect... If anyone can think of a better chapter title for this one, PLEASE shout it out... I just put that one there cause I can't think of anything else. .

**Disclaimer: I do not own Jak and Daxter. **

**Vacation or War  
****Chapter Sixty Four- Gamers in Arms**

The roof of the tower was certainly not the top of it; on top of the wide and flat circle that was half built into the mountain was a huge spire of scaffolding. It was clearly some kind of work platform, meant to contain and test high explosives without decimating the factory below. At the top of this thing was a huge sphere, about three times the size of Krew.

Speaking of Krew, he was also there, waiting for them. Clearly the big boss was aware of them busting through all of his security forces and making their way up to the top of the tower, and he was very quick to dive right into the sugar as she, Jak, and Daxter stepped out of the elevator.

"I knew you were special when I first met you two," He said quickly, "and I commend you for making it this far. We've come a long way, 'ey?"

Jak took the lead, walking towards Krew and taking an intimidating presence. In response, Krew's chair floated him backwards to keep a particular distance. "Yeah." Jak's voice reflected veiled hostility. "I'm getting real teary-eyed."

Krew's chair drew up and away from them, still preoccupied with the thing held in the tower. Forgetting his attempt at buttering them up, he instead spoke about his project. "I love weapons. I love how they look, how they feel..." The man took a huge huff through his nose, grinning. Loor was sorely reminded that the reek of the goo below still made it up to where they were. "Even how they smell!"

Jak shook his head slightly. "I think you need serious help..." He muttered.

Krew was too far away to hear it. "My favorite was the impossible powerful weapon Mar build to blast open the Metal Head nest. Poor fool died before he could use it... ah well..." What lament that had come into the fat man's voice left quickly. "_But _I have a new favorite." He was now floating next to the huge metal sphere suspended by the tower, looking at it lovingly. "The piercer bomb I've just completed. My masterpiece is powerful enough to crack open the precursor stone, and release the untold energy inside! As soon as the Baron shows up with the Stone, we'll hide it in the last shipment of eco and deliver it to the metal head nest; as surprise dessert, 'ey?" He'd drifted back down to them, his long speech turning out to be an explanation. He was trying to get them to see that this was not just necessary, but good and clever. He chuckled to himself like a child as he came down to their level once more, tossing an item to Jak and all of the joy dropping off of his flabby face. "Just take this gun upgrade and forget what you saw here."

A bribe. Jak took it without considering any options, drawing out the morph gun to load it in. Krew took on a smug look when Jak did this... until the blond looked up without putting the weapon away.

The kid was locked and loaded... and not too prone to forgetting things. "Not this time, Krew. I'm through being your hired gun!"

Loor had her pistol in her hand already, watching as Krew began backing off. His chair was oddly agile in the air, giving him several yards of distance at a moment's notice.

"Then it's war, isn't it?" The fat man growled back.

Once that line was uttered, Loor didn't hesitate. Like a horse bolting out of a gate, she skipped off to the side and opened up. Jak did the same, though he moved in the other direction. He didn't know what kind of weaponry the beach ball might've been packing, but knowing the big gangster's tastes it was unlikely that he was defenseless.

The first few seconds revealed that the chair that Krew was practically bound to featured an energy shield. Shots fired directly at the fat bastard were blocked in short flashes of teal light. The next few moments made the point that the chair itself was equipped with a gun that fired from the top, returning fire but only able to aim at one target at a time.

Divided attention was not an option for someone who wished to survive; Krew made a noise of frustration before he spoke again, his voice menacing and cocky.

"I'd like you to meet my _crew." _

Devices that ringed the rooftop activated, producing two things. First was the smell of the crap inside the factory; the hot and glowing mix that had made both Loor and Jak rather sick to their stomachs on the way up. This smell came first as each of these devices pushed up an amount of this green-yellow mix.

Then a shock of blue eco was admitted into the smelly blobs, each of them hopping up into the air and forming quickly. What was a puddle of slag one moment, became a miniature representation of Krew himself the very next. They were clearly green, yellow light sparking in the same way blue eco would.

Loor suddenly realized the crap downstairs wasn't for bullets or experiments; it was an unlimited reservoir to create these little fuckers she remembered _all too well _from the game. She was instantly distracted from taking shots at Krew, having to start shooting at the little electrified clones that were floating away from their dispensers to come after her and Jak.

Being small, they moved quickly. Loor had to point, shoot, and run, keeping her head up to make sure she wasn't running straight into another glowing nasty while trying to get away from the first. She knew better than to try and kick them or engage in other melee combat; those things would be just like a AED gone haywire.

And with the yellow eco in the mix, she imagined there would be some extra burning on top of the usual crap that was caused from a heavy shock.

In running around the platform, she eventually found herself at Jak's side again. He kept her there; the scattergun was capable of taking out several of the little energy clones of Krew at once, pushing them back in waves. She found herself back-to-back with him to avoid crossfire, looking up and finding Krew flying off the edge of the platform. She imagined his little mini-mes were attracted to anything organic, so he simply watching and waiting to make sure they were dead before taking any other action.

He was too far away for her to aim at, so instead she turned her attention to the next logical target.

The dispensers. The devices were every few feet along the rim, producing the blobs and shocking them to life. Jak was holding them off, destroying them in groups, but there was only so long his ammo would hold out.

There was one of the little nodes on the floor not even two yards away from them. Without questioning the thought as it crossed her mind, Loor aimed and fired at it.

And missed. Several times. It was a tiny target; clearly outside of her skills, even at short range. She was getting better, but she just didn't have the talent that _others_ certainly did.

Jak, being one of those others, caught onto her idea and grinned. "Trade me." He commanded suddenly.

In that particular situation, Loor did _not_ argue. In a flash she'd handed over her pistol in exchange for the scattergun... which was a much better choice for her at this moment. The wide spray of fire made her issue with targeting moot, simply having to stay on top of where the things were coming from to keep them as far away as possible.

And Jak started picking off the spawners with her weapon. In a minute and a few quick turns he had taken all that were in range; the few that he hadn't been able to go after were the ones that had the tower blocking his line of sight. Loor had fewer targets to shoot at as the devices were destroyed, the pressure letting off enough for the two of them to move around the platform without much anxiety and go after the last of the nodes.

Krew was growing infuriated; watching as his guardians were not just repelled, but ultimately scuttled. He drew close to the platform as the last spawner was ruined, growling and his fat flabby face set into a glare. It was a cold day in hell when this man didn't get his way.

He started firing on them again; he'd take care of this himself.

Jak took his gun back quickly, changing mods while moving in front of Loor and taking aim. She expected to see the blaster for a longer-range shot, or maybe the vulcan barrel to try and overload the shield that was protecting the huge target that was Krew's body.

Instead, Jak selected the peace maker. He was waiting though, allowing the gun to charge as he watched Krew draw closer. He wanted the man over the platform.

Once he was there, he let the ball of blue sparks fly. It corkscrewed through the air, and Loor was sure it would miss. It looked like Jak had fired a little high, actually, which perplexed her... until she realized he wasn't aiming for the man's body.

He was aiming for the top of the chair. Where Krew's gun fired from.

Where there had to be no shield.

The chair, like other machines hit with that kind of energy, shorted out. Krew went from flying through the air to flat on the ground. A small noise, not unlike a wet twig snapping, made Loor think that the man's atrophied legs had just been crushed under him. He didn't cry out, though, struggling against his own weight and the malfunction of his transportation to reach for something.

In the fall to the deck, a compartment of his chair had popped open. The Heart of Mar had fallen out, just outside of his reach, making the man whimper with his obsession for material goods.

Jak approached, picking up the energy gem while holstering his weapon; Krew was powerless. "Is it too late to give my notice?"

"Yeah!" Daxter echoed. "We quit!"

Krew, pulling back from the trouble twins once they claimed the thing he'd been desperate to snatch back, spoke harshly with the voice of a madman. "The city is already dead! I've sold you all out!" He began laughing, but it devolved to coughing. With the chair out of commission, so was the elaborate life-support system that was keeping him going despite his massive bulk.

But, like a fail-safe responding to a short-circuit or blown fuse, something else had activated.

The massive sphere above them, identified as the piercer bomb, made a hum that suggested that it had been activated.

"Ah... Guys..." Daxter was looking up, his ears falling down in fear. "I think maybe we should be anywhere else just about now!"

Jak started backing away from Krew, who was still coughing and struggling to hold onto life on his own. Loor had put away her pistol and joined the three of them, casting her eyes out beyond the mountain to look for something.

Better put, someone.

A KG cruiser was flying their way. Their way out, just in time.

Jak looked as he heard the engines, blinking as he saw the pilot. "Ashelin!"

"We're outta here!" She yelled back, not actually stopping along side the platform. She slowed just enough for the trio to run and climb on, turning it back towards the city and pouring on the speed.

They left Krew behind, feeling the shock-wave as the piercer bomb detonated, taking its creator with it.

* * *

Ashelin was an expert flier, getting them back to the city much faster than the air train had taken them out to the factory in the first place. Once they were up and over the walls she dropped down low, entering on the south end of the port and coming down to the street near where the air train would have dropped them off, had they taken it.

On the way over, Jak had explained what had happened in a nut-shell. He'd also handed over the Heart of Mar for Ashelin to take over the Keira, since she currently had a superior mode of transportation. They, on the other hand, were heading back to the Hip Hog, and not just to be social with Tess.

No, Krew collected many artifacts. There was more than a fair chance that he'd 'collected' the time map and hidden it away.

Loor didn't comment on any of this as it was discussed, just keeping her head down and following once they'd been dropped back in the port. Jak was walking fast, clearly getting the same feeling that he'd been getting earlier. Something was going to happen; something big was coming, and this war was going to end. Tonight.

She glanced upwards; the sky was blacked out by clouds, and she felt as if she were swimming through the humid air. The smell of rain was on the air, but so was the electrical feel of lighting that just hadn't made contact with the earth yet. Gusts of wind blasted through, funneled by the buildings on the port strip and causing white caps on the water below street level. All of it cause a feeling of unrest, setting the scene for an explosion.

She walked a little faster to stay in-step with Jak. They'd arrived at the Hip-Hog.

For once, the bar was empty. All the lights were on, but the place was positively dead. Everyone in the city sensed something was wrong, and decided that out and boozing was not the place to be. Tess, in the absence of Krew or any other living being, had been snooping about. She'd quickly taken on an innocent posture when she heard the door opening, but relaxed out of it when the trouble twins, followed by Loor, walked in.

The blonde had been inspecting a game near the door; it was whack-a-mole with metal heads instead of moles. Her arms were crossed over her chest, clearly upset that she'd failed in opening the machine manually. "Hey, guys," She said to get attention. "Whatever Krew put into that machine, he looked really nervous..."

"Whatever it is," Daxter said quickly, hopping down from Jak's shoulder to inspect the game himself, "Krew won't be needing it anymore. He's, shall we say, not all together these days."

"The game dispenses prizes for particular scores." Tess said, still hugging herself. "I saw Krew put something in it as a prize, and then he got rid of the keys. I figured I might be able to get the lock open some other way, but it's been welded. He really didn't want anyone to get in there..."

"What?" Daxter snickered. "The beach ball figured a high score was gonna keep someone away from one of his goodies?" Dax snorted, putting a fuzzy hand up to his human companions. "Step aside, Jak. Let the game player do his stuff!"

Tess giggled, leaning down to smile at Daxter. "You're such an animal!"

Daxter wore a huge grin as he clambered up on top; apparently ottsels are really good at whack-a-mole.

* * *

**The Author's Corner**

Yes, I changed some of the canon dialog. So shoot me, some of those scenes just felt... well, like they moved too quickly. It's like, wait, why is so-and-so saying this? How did we assume 'facts' X Y and Z? Meow. Loor writes logically. Or at least she thinks she does.

Going to bed now. Yes. Sleep. It is good.

-Loor


	65. A Path Not Taken

**CLEANED UP**

**Clean up notes for this chapter: **Basic un-packing. Nothing fancy...

**Disclaimer: I don't own Jak and Daxter. **

**Vacation or War  
****Chapter Sixty Five- A Path Not Taken**

Despite being someone who spent many of his days riding around on his best friend's shoulder, Daxter had surprisingly good and quick reflexes. Wielding a rubber mallet that was only slightly smaller than himself, he was able to decimate the game and make it look rather easy, hopping down when the final victory tone played, his prize dispensing into Tess's waiting hands. The device was egg-shaped and classic precursor bronze, with a square base that looked like it was meant to be attached to something.

"The time map!" Daxter cheered at his own success, climbing down off of the machine and looking up at his lady. "You know, sugar plum, if any _real_ metal heads came into town, I'd bonk 'em just like I did in the game!"

Tess was looking down at Daxter, smiling her usual smile before it dropped right off of her face, her eyes flicking up to the door. Jak and Loor, who were both at her side, also looked up.

Lauren had been expecting this intrusion, but it shocked her all the same. After all the time of trusting the city walls to keep metal heads out and the people safe, she'd actually found some of that security herself... so the sight of one of the monsters stalking through the door was quite horrifying. Two had her reaching for her pistol.

"Daxter..." Tess whimpered, not wanting to make any sudden moves or noise. The two creatures that had just come through the door were still stalking, hunkered down low and listening to Dax as he jabbered on.

"They'd be all 'Don't hurt me please!' and I'd be all 'Too late, metal monkeys! You die screaming!'" The ottsel snickered. "You know what I'm saying?"

"Uh... Dax..." Loor muttered; Jak had drawn his gun as well, the two of them aiming at the creatures just behind the ottsel.

Daxter finally turned around, ducking and shaking slightly. "Jak, I think these trophies are still walking!" He yelped, tucking down as his friends opened fire on the two beasties before they had the chance to try and do any damage. It was a short and noisy moment, and then they were both dead, laying out on the floor and motionless. Daxter, having been only inches away from getting eaten, stared at the corpses and gaped. "Ma... ma... Metal heads! Metal heads! Where's Sig when you need him?"

Tess's baby blue eyes widened. "Sig? I think Krew sent him on one last mission. Something about using Mar's ruby key to open a secret door in the underport?"

Jak looked like he wanted to whack himself in the head. "Of course! Come on guys, we need to get to the underport _now." _

Tess watched as the trio mobilized for the door, still left with the prize from the game. "I'll take the time map to Keira!" She announced, which meant she was going to brave the streets. Loor hoped the girl had some emergency heat to pack, or she'd never make it all the way to the stadium.

"Be careful, angel cheeks," Daxter said, pausing to turn back and give an over-dramatic bow, "and your hero will return shortly!"

With that the ottsel leapt back onto Jak's shoulder, and they left the Hip Hog behind.

Stepping out into the streets was like entering a war zone. Regular townies, what few were left on the streets, ran for their lives as metal heads chased after them. Guards flooded through, fighting back the metal heads but gravely outnumbered by the creatures. It took two or even three guards to corner and dispatch a metal head, but there had to be at least five monsters for every man.

The city was being overwhelmed.

Jak didn't stop at the door; he broke in to a run. There was a zoomer across the street; a matter of five yards, which had to be sprinted to avoid bullets and fangs. Loor was right behind him, ducking and weaving through the carnage, trying not to watch.

Screaming echoed in the streets of those who were caught and killed; real screams. Real blood.

Real death. Stories were ending left and right, people pinned and ripped apart. Innocents. Not guards or animals; real people who had done nothing.

Jak was on the zoomer; she got on behind him and looked away from the streets. She looked into the water of the port. The wind had died, and the water was eerily calm. A black void under the roads, having no moonlight or starlight to reflect.

She watched the black as they moved, searching for any ripple or shine. At first there was none to be had, the darkness overwhelming and somewhat frightening.

The sky flashed, followed by a booming clap of thunder. The water reflected that flash, and then rippled as a gale force wind ripped across it, a sudden downpour following after.

The storm had begun.

Jak flew the zoomer more over the water than he did the streets, headed for one of the two towers that stood in the port section. There was a door into the tower that was their goal; the elevator that would take them to the underport. The door opened quickly, and the trio abandoned the zoomer to get inside and away from the chaos in the city.

The room past the door was small, a few square feet provided as a landing before the elevator platform that would take them down. They stood there for a moment, catching their breaths from the frantic drive through the city.

Loor was holding herself, leaning against the wall. She _knew_ this was supposed to happen, but what she'd seen out there was too awful to accept. _That_ was the proper way to save this city? How many people were going to die because the shield wall had failed?

She wanted to call Vin, but as luck would have it, Vin had just called Jak. His comm. unit buzzed for attention, and the blond hero picked up quickly.

"_The shield wall is down!" _The scientist yelled through the link. _"I repeat, the shield wall is down! Sabotaged! Kor did it! I knew that metal heads would be the end of me..." _There was a pause for breath, it sounded like he was sobbing. _"Metal heads at the door! Jak!" _

He first cried for help, a screeching sound in the background. His reinforced door had just been ripped apart.

The next scream was one of pain before the link was disconnected.

Daxter stared at the comm. unit, but Jak looked at Loor. The girl was still staring up, holding herself, her hands clenched into fists and her jaw set. She didn't want to show any of the emotions that were floating just under the surface. She felt remorse for Vin, but she felt something greater than that; she felt guilt.

The VC-M1 could have prevented all this. It could have produced the eco needed to keep the shield wall up. It was wrong, it wasn't the way things were meant to go, but Vin wouldn't have died if she'd let him use it. Nor would have all the innocents who had already been killed, or the ones who were going to die as the night wore on. She remembered the feeling when Vin had re-created her device, the sick in the pit of her stomach that had caused her to crush the replica, but she now wished she'd ignored it.

She knew what would have happened if she had ignored it, though. The Baron had another one of Krew's bombs, and it actually had the precursor stone strapped into it. If the shield wall stayed up, the Baron would be able to go on with his plans before Jak or anyone else would be able to stop him. The piercer bomb would crack open the precursor stone, and the world would effectively end in the blink of an eye.

Existence would end. She didn't want that. But she didn't want this either.

"Lauren."

She jolted at being called by her real name; it made her blink and look to Jak, who was staring at her quite seriously.

"Is this... what was supposed to happen?"

She blinked a few times. A tear had worked its way free of her, a lump in her throat as she considered all that was happening outside. Vin in Kor's claws, not yet dead but most likely mortally wounded, metal heads ravaging the city in search of the precursor stone, the deaths of hundreds as everyone attempted to either run or repel the attack...

But his question was the only question that mattered in all of this.

It was all supposed to happen.

"Yeah." She sniffed, doing her best to breathe. "This... it all has to happen like this..."

"What are you two talking about?" Daxter was looking between the two teenagers. "Loor? You know all of this was coming?"

"I'll explain at the victory party." She said quickly, getting away from the wall and motioning towards the elevator down into the underport. "No distractions, right? I'm okay. Let's go and make sure Sig's alright."

"But..." The ottsel sounded like he was going to whine and Jak joined her on the elevator, the thing starting up with a clunk and descending. "If ya know... why don't ya warn us about stuff...?"

"She can't." Jak said quickly before Loor could try and explain all the whys. There were too many for one elevator ride.

The ottsel actually pouted. "Bet she already told _you._" He huffed at his partner and friend.

"I beat it out of her." Jak pointed out.

"In a sense..." Loor mildly agreed, giving both of the boys a look. "Not the word I'd use for it... And even you don't know all of it."

"You say that like someone does." Daxter noted.

She sighed as the elevator landed at the bottom of the shaft. "Someone _did._ Vin'll... keep those secrets safe..."

Jak put his hand on her shoulder. "You wanted to save him." It was a statement, not a question.

She nodded, but then looked ahead once more. There was no time to wallow in self-pity or guilt. They had to get through the underport, and the tool to do so was right in front of them in the next room.

Beyond the elevator was a room for flooding; a lock. There were holes in the floor for draining and valves near the ceiling for flooding. In the smack middle of the room was a titian suit that was slightly different than the one they'd used with the underground. It was slightly bigger, all of the size in the cockpit. There was also some black detailing on it around sealing points; rubber to ensure a water-tight seal.

This suit was made to get wet. She approached it automatically, inspecting the machine while hefting a sigh. "Jak, think you can drive this rig?"

"You're the one with practice." He answered while walking up. "Why?"

"This room is going to completely flood; half of the underport is _underwater._ The suit is a little bigger to store a small air supply, but it's going to be easier if only one of us goes and the other goes back to the surface."

Jak now hefted himself up to look into the cockpit, and then look at the controls. "I could give it a shot... but how much room do I have for error?"

"Eh?" She blinked at him.

"What happens if I screw it up in the first ten seconds?" He said more bluntly.

"_Oh._ Uh..." She felt a heavy expression spreading on her face; the answer was not a good one. If Jak didn't figure the controls out quickly, he'd asphyxiate to death before he'd made his first air source. "Suffocation. The suit doesn't produce fresh air; there are bubblers set up at way-points."

He nodded before climbing the rest of the way up, turning to drop his feet in. She watched for a moment, suddenly feeling like she was stuck between a rock and a hard place... again. She'd gotten all the practice with the titian suit, but she didn't feel right taking the mission herself.

She was sure she'd screw it up on her own.

Reluctantly she began to climb down.

"Hey!" Jak barked before she'd hopped off. "Where are you going? I'm not driving this thing."

"What?" She lifted herself back up; he was staying off the back rest so the cockpit didn't close. Even when he did relax back, it was going to be a tight squeeze.

Tight, but do-able.

"C'mon, toots, Sig needs back-up, pronto!" Daxter cajoled.

She hesitated a moment more before nodding, removing her weapon from her back to stuff down with her legs while turning and dropping in. This being her third time at the controls, she actually felt pretty comfortable... but she no longer had any extra space, ducking her head to make sure her ears didn't get caught when the cockpit shut.

A moment after the seal had been made, the room began to flood. She didn't wait for it to completely fill, pushing the suit to lumber forward to the giant door on the other end of the lock.

Their entryway into the underport. The titian suit had lights that came to life as she waited a few moments for the door to open, interior lights coming on as well and allowing her to see the gauges near her main joy-stick. As with the other suit there was fuel and the bubble-balance, but the O2 dial she'd noticed in the other suit was much more prominent in this one. It was back-lit and currently displayed a cheery green, telling her that all was well.

But the needle was moving to the other end, and with it the bright green was slowly dimming into a dangerous color of red.

The door opened, and she entered the Haven that Mar built so very long ago. A flooded underwater city, lost and forgotten by the people above.

* * *

**The Author's Corner**

And suddenly the fact that Loor is good with the titian suit becomes a problem. XDD

Trucking along, heading for the big finish, and _so_ looking forward to it. MEOW!

-Loor


	66. Designated Driver

**CLEANED UP**

**Clean up notes for this chapter: **Just moving through; no real changes aside from the fact that it's written a tad differently, different dialog... meow.

**Disclaimer: I don't own Jak and Daxter.**

**Vacation or War  
****Chapter Sixty Six- Designated Driver**

It had become unbearably hot within the titian suit, despite the fact that it was immersed in cold water. With two humans and one ottsel doing their best to breathe as little as possible, and staying as quiet as possible to allow Loor to concentrate on being a good driver, each exhale went to raise the temperature inside the machine. Add the fact that three bodies produced a lot more BTUs than just one, and the stress meter got kicked in the balls whenever something new showed up, everyone was sweating.

Despite how tense she was, Loor managed to look around a little bit. Several lights had activated outside of the suit, allowing her to see in the dark water as they left the lock behind and entered what had once been a huge stone room. The architecture reminded of dead town... minus windows, since the place _was_ underground. In another life, she could have imagined some sort of atrium to someone's house, or the forward annex of a cathedral. The broken stones near the ceiling led out to black, and the body of water that had flooded the place.

Also, every several yards, there was something on the floor with bright lights around it... and bubbles coming up. The way-points for the titian suit to proceed through the area without the driver suffocating.

Moving underwater was easier for the titian suit, but the limited air supply was still a problem. Next to the gauge that told them how much of the air was actually breathable was a switch marked 'VENT' which had started out closed. Loor had managed to get to the first way-point rather quickly, and didn't ask any questions, flipping the switch quickly and looking to the O2 meter; it had just been turning orange on it's decent down to red. It was at the more golden level of yellow that the air within the suit began to taste bitter, and Loor figured red may not have been the point of carbon monoxide poisoning, but it would certainly be around the point of all of them passing out. If she had to guess, with the three of them, it was ten to twelve minuets of air before things started getting dizzy.

Flipping the switch brought the sweet smell of clean air back into the cabin, noting a fan and pneumatic pump near the top of the suit that had to be getting rid of the bad air as the good stuff was let in, but it also caused something else. Loor felt damp around her feet, and looked down to find that the vent she was toggling was on the bottom of the suit. It caught the bubbles, but it also let a tiny bit of water in. She thought she'd be able to sit on the stream from the bubbler for as long as she needed to get her bearings, but that was obviously not so. They'd take more water the longer she stalled.

That was the first kick in the balls the stress-level had gotten.

So she waited for the O2 numbers to be green again and snapped the vent closed, moving on. Though there were several ways to go from the area they were currently in, she knew the right one and moved though it quickly. There was a decorative metal grating that had to be pounded out of the way, and some stairs she used the machine's jump jets to hop over instead of walking them.

The next thing to make her sweat would be the water-born metal heads, floating about. They were just beyond the stairs, coming into view and making her want to back up but knowing better. The titian suit could do reverse, but she didn't trust it not to fall over on un-even terrain. They looked like giant squids, and there was two of them floating towards the suit. Loor knew they could electrocute with their massive tentacles, and didn't feel like getting fish-fried.

Instead of fighting them, she pushed past them. The suit wasn't made for combat, and Jak did all the shooting when she'd piloted the thing before. Thankfully, the squid-like metal heads were lazy and not particularly quick in any sort of pursuit. There was another metal gate in a door-way ahead, which was something Loor _did_ attack.

The air was beginning to taste bitter again. She didn't glance at the O2 gauge, just focusing on where the next vent was; just beyond the door they'd crushed. Getting to it was easy enough, opening the vent again while turning the suit and checking where she needed to go next. They were in another wide room, stairs going up and another metal head prowling about, but the next room they needed to be in was just through a hole in a wall off to her right. So, ignoring the nasty like she had the last two and closing the vent to move on.

She was noticing just now that the boys were regularly holding their breath and doing their best not to disturb her. Jak was even keeping his hands down and to his sides, avoiding even touching her for fear of distracting her from her task. She mentally thanked him for that, entering what would be their most difficult room.

There was another stream of bubbles in the corner of the room that they didn't need yet. There was also several strange objects sticking out of the floor. Each was the exact same set-up; a bulbous thing attached to a chain, held to the floor by a claw. Each one of these things was flat on top, and was trying to float up to the surface.

They were platforms. A whack from the titian suit would release them to the surface. Why did this matter? This room had open air above the flooded section. Opposite of the vent was a lift that would take the up to the air, but where they needed to be was across the top of the flooded room. These platforms, once released, would make their bridge.

She was able to hit three of them on the way to the vent, take on air in a momentary pause, and then go after the other three, the total of six floating up on their chains and breaking the surface above. Not that she looked up; she was moving for the lift. Boarding the metal square caused it to start moving at once, as if it understood the urgency of whoever was trying to transverse this watery obstacle course.

The smell of bad air was almost enough to make her dizzy when the glass of the cockpit came over the top of the water. She waited only a moment after that, opening the vents once more and feeling some small victory at getting back to open air.

"How much further?" Daxter asked when the pressure was let off for the moment. Loor had let herself lean back into Jak, enjoying the fact that he came to hold her around the middle. The ottsel was still on Jak's shoulder, crouched over and looking rather uncomfortable. His question came off as a whine.

"Not far." She assured, looking at the six floating platforms that opened the way across. There was brown sandstone and lights where they were currently, but also another hole that would lead them back down into the water. "Over there, down and through a few more rooms... then one big room... then the lock." She sat up a bit more, cracking her neck and knuckles before taking up the controls again.

Jak didn't let go of her as she once again went to work. Getting across the platforms using the jump jets was far from easy, and certainly nerve-wracking, but it went by quickly. Once they were to the other side was a quick hop back down into the water after closing up the vents, following the path that she'd described without error. Two more bubblers were found between point A and point B, the second being right before the big room she'd mentioned.

And it was _big. _Big enough for the walls to be invisible because it was too damn dark to see them. What it wasn't too dark to see was the four metal heads presiding over the long rock path that led to their way out. It was a jump down to the narrow bridge, and it felt like they floated down slowly through the cold water. After that it was urging the suit to get past as fast as possible without incurring the wrath of the squids.

By the time they'd garnered notice, they were gone. The thick and heavy door at the end of the path was open and waiting for them to enter.

No one cheered until the door shut behind them and the lock drained. Jak got his weight off of the back of the seat once all the water was gone, causing the cockpit to open and giving Loor the push to get out; none of them wanted to be in that cramped little space for another moment.

Daxter got out before the other two could organize themselves properly for exit, hopping to the floor and smoothing his fur out. "That wasn't so bad!" He said while looking back. Loor had just managed her legs out, carefully clambering down after snapping her weapon to her back once more. Sadly, her knees gave out and Jak was hardly in the position to catch her, so she landed in a heap on the floor. "Whoa! Jeez girl, you okay?"

"Nerves..." She admitted; still was sweating from the underwater jaunt, her hands shaking now that she was out of the spotlight. "Can we never do that... ever again?"

"Wasn't so bad." Jak commented, finally getting out after her and helping her up. She fought him at first, but there were things more important than her pride to consider at the moment. "Let's go. Sig can't be far."

That was something of an understatement. Leaving the lock behind, there was a short corridor of brown stone, leading up into a large and well-lit room.

Sig was in that room. He was faced away from them, shooting at a small army of metal heads. The creatures were all coming from a small hole, reminding of roaches abandoning a nest for better prospects. Sig was keeping them back on his own, but it was slowly losing ground by the looks of it. He wouldn't be able to keep them off forever on his own.

There was a small break in the floor between the hall in the room, one Jak jumped easily with Daxter on his shoulder once more, Loor following behind.

Jak chose this moment to have a glib moment. "Hey there, tough guy."

Sig rounded quickly, trigger happy and actually firing on them. Loor knew it was coming and was already down, and the boys managed to duck in time. Realizing they were friends instead of foe, Sig didn't waste time with apologies, turning back to shooting and yelling for them. "Get your skinny asses over here and start shooting!"

No one argued with the big wastelander, quickly rushing to his side with appropriate arms drawn out and providing extra fire upon the hole that the metal heads were making their way out of. There was quite a pile of corpses already, but the flow seemed to be slowing down. With extra shooters, some of the monsters actually hesitated with their heads out of the hole, looking like they were going to turn back but forced out by those behind them.

Either way, it looked as it Sig had been here for quite some time, and he was made quite aggravated by the whole experience. "Man, was I set up!" He snapped. "Krew sent me down here to open some old doors with that ruby key you found, and when I did, metal heads came streaming in from some passage outside the city walls... just like they were waiting for me!"

"Krew's dead." Jak informed, as if that were some small solace.

"Yeah?" Sig's voice didn't lose any of its edge. "Well he's lucky! Because he would _not_ want me to catch him alive!"

"The metal heads must have promised Krew plenty for him to betray the whole city like this..." Daxter noted, watching the flow of beasts slow even more. Some were dying before they'd even fully escaped the hole, now that their prey had some supporting fire.

Jak nodded before noting the passage beyond the room they were in. "Let's get out of here!"

Nods went around; nothing would get done down here. Sig quickly became the spearhead of the group, leading the way across the room as the others provided any extra firepower that was needed... which wasn't much now that the smaller metal heads were having trouble moving the bigger bodies out of their way to wiggle free. Jak started out in second, but quickly became third as Loor power-walked past him.

He blinked at her, but put it up to nerves. She did just nearly suffocate in a big mechanical suit like eight times.

Sig brought his gun up into both hands to hold it across his chest while breaking into a jog, wanting to get back to the surface quickly. Loor looked about ready to start sprinting, and Jak was about to follow up...

When he heard a noise and felt the stone under his feet rumbling. It didn't take long for him to zero in on the wall behind him, looking and staring for a moment.

The wall was beginning to crumble.

Loor grabbed his hand, giving him a yank. "C'mon!"

Sig glance back at the two teens, Jak starting to move at Loor's urging. "Shootin' this one is only gonna make him mad. _RUN!" _

Finally, Jak complied. Loor didn't look up at the monster that was coming through the wall; it was something known as a metalpede; big, ugly... death on a hundred legs. It was huge and armored, making the only smart option be the one Sig suggested; get the fuck away from it. Once Jak was moving she let go of him, putting her head down and pumping her arms. Like the run away from the stadium after the class-one races, she thanked goodness for all the strength she had in her legs.

All she had to do was focus on her footing and following Sig; the big guy was doing well enough to stay ahead despite having heavy armor and a huge gun. There were broken parts of the floor, things she had to jump or climb over, glancing back now and again to find Jak right behind her, and the giant metal head right behind him.

She kept her gaze forward for most of it; cursing under her breath. She was so focused on not getting trampled that she almost didn't notice when the path turned to a narrow bridge over what seemed to be an endless abyss. Sig slowed, looking back to Jak. The blond hero was beating feet to stay ahead of the metalpede, but the creature was right on his ass.

Hitting the bridge, the beast tried to follow, but it's weight was too much for the path. It began to break under him. Daxter made a noise of fear as he realized the two of them were beginning to fall as the thing crumbled beneath them.

Sig bent quickly, throwing out a hand to Jak as he reached out for him. It was a lucky catch, the two grabbing hold and Sig hauling them up as the metal head went down, falling into the darkness and screaming the whole way.

There was no time for thanks; they got moving again in tense silence. They were moving through more old bits of what had to be the city Mar originally built, only this part wasn't flooded. Loor would have been admiring it if she wasn't looking around every corner for the next big disaster. There'd been a few examples of how things were different than how she knew them in the game, mainly in places where it would be difficult for Morgan to follow. Where she remembered puzzles and floating precursor platforms down in the underport, there was just a lot of rocky corridors and some broken gaps to jump over... and a lot of stale and dusty air with the occasional light in the wall.

And no one wanted to slow down for anything. There was also noises in the walls; metal heads crawling through old and forgotten places, smaller ones keeping out of sight for the most part, only a few coming up and needing to be shot. Still, every time a scraping noise lasted too long, or a rock sounded like it was going to be broken, everyone tensed. It made for a somewhat neurotic time, since all the stress for naught.

Until a certain point.

It was entering another hallway when a much louder sound and a monstrous noise caught everyone's attention. The metalpede was back, and it was breaking through the floor to come after them. It was another mad sprint to get away from it, somewhat desperate since they already knew they couldn't fight it. It was either find another bridge that would collapse under it's weight or find a passage too small for it to follow through.

Jak dug a little deeper, so he wasn't so close to the monster in case the former happened. Loor was only mildly surprised when she was passed, but that left her in the back of the pack and pushing harder as she felt dust pricking the back of her neck; debris kicked up by the creature chasing them.

She pushed harder, despite the fact that her legs were screaming and her lungs ached.

Thankfully, it was the latter that happened. They found a thin passage that was too small for the monster but plenty big enough for them. At first it made an insane amount of racket, still trying to come after them, its armor scraping the stones and making a terrible screeching.

Then, as they moved further in the passage... it gave up.

Or it sounded that way. The hall twisted a few times, bringing them into a wider area and then, eventually, a chamber that had an elevator shaft. It was just a few yards away, and Jak had made it in the lead. Sig had long slowed to a jog again, pushing Loor to get ahead of him and bringing up the back of the pack.

"Let's go!" Jak called, stopping a ways into the room and looking back to Sig. Loor was at his side, taking the short break to pant and hold her chest, feeling like her lungs were going to explode. "We're almost to the elevator!"

Sig was looking back, grinning. He stopped just inside the room. "Looks like we finally lost 'em, chili peppers! Piece of cake, huh? Now you boys are _real _wastelanders!" The big guy looked quite enthusiastic now. "I say it's time we take this fight to the metal head leader himself! What a trophy he'd make! We find a way to juice up Mar's ol' gun, and then _boom baby!_ We storm the nest, guns blazing! Hell! We'll take 'em all on, together! All of us, side by side! Nothin'll stop us-"

Sig stopped short as the ceiling above him began to cave. Jak opened his mouth to yell out to the man, but it was already too late.

The metalpede had found another way into the room to follow them, crashing through the ceiling and down onto Sig, the floor under that also crumbling, man and monster falling through the gaping hole in the floor. Sig bellowed, surprise and pain showing in the cry, as all three of those left behind called after him by name.

There was no response. Jak and Daxter stared into the hole, distraught that another one of their friends had been taken by the metal heads.

Loor turned away, moving for the elevator.

"So..." Daxter slowly said. "Ah... what's plan B?"

* * *

**The Author's Corner**

Ugh... endgame sucks, there's no room to add shit because of everything happening so freakin' fast.

Either way, we're getting closer and closer to the juicy bits that make up the very end of the story, so that is good.

ONWARD!

-Loor


	67. Two Leaders

**CLEANED UP**

**Clean up notes for this chapter: **Well this is un-packing. Scenes that took a few lines now take a whole freakin' chapter. XDD BUT They were fun to write. YAY for old memories.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Jak and Daxter.**

**Vacation or War  
****Chapter Sixty Seven- Two Leaders**

Haven city was in chaos. What had began when the three had descended into the underport was now in full swing, a thunderstorm on top of it pelting the battlefield with rain. The storm limited visibility though, so Loor didn't have to look at the mutilated bodies of those who had been taken down. Also, once they'd gotten out of the underport, they'd boarded the nearest zoomer again and sped off.

Keira had contacted them as soon as they were close enough to the surface for the signal to come through; she needed their help up at the stadium. The ride through the city showed what Loor knew already knew was happening; the fight that had started in the port had spread up into all of the city sections, the checkpoints and barriers between the parts of the city broken and allowing metal heads to run up into Haven like a deadly virus.

Jak took to driving in the upper zone, since there was no air traffic. Zoomers had long been abandoned by the people, or taken by those who were fleeing... though they had nowhere to flee too. Loor just now noted that the wall that had protected Haven since Mar built it was now penning in the people like cattle for slaughter. They were trapped in a giant killing-ground.

Again, she tried not to think about things too much as they made their way to the stadium section. It was the northern-most part of the city, and yet to be breached, though it was only a matter of time. Keira was outside when they arrived, both Samoses present as well. They were gathered around the finished rift rider, which had somehow been moved to the bottom of the stadium steps.

Keira forwent a greeting as they dismounted their zoomer to see what she needed. "The rift rider's finished!" She announced, though her voice was still tense. "But if my father's right, the rift ring is somewhere in the metal head nest... How are we going to get the rift rider there to use it?"

The question of how they were going to have the time to activate and use it in the metal head nest without getting eaten was left unspoken. Jak was thinking, but before any suggestions could come of it, someone else unexpectedly joined the party, surprising everyone.

Brutter, the lurker, suddenly popped up from behind the machine. Why he'd been hiding there, and where the fuck he'd come from, where left as unknowns. He also skipped over any sort of explanation to point at something in the sky. _"Look! _Brutter just _knew_ friends would need help if metal headers attack!"

Loor, having just nearly jumped right out of her skin, looked up without considering the fact that she already knew what was floating down to them. It was a lurker blimp; a dirigible with a large flat raft slung under it instead of a basket or cabin. It was likely meant for getting everyone the hell out of dodge, but Brutter was likely to put just about anything on there, and take it anywhere, for his friends. The big balloon set down in the stadium square... on the other side of it from the rift rider.

No points for lurker intelligence.

"Brutter, you the man!" Daxter cheered. There was visible relief on everyone's face.

"Lurker balloons are finest lifters in world," Brutter said quickly, "but they is easy target."

"Right." Jak nodded, glancing to the entrance of the stadium. Everyone was getting antsy; it wouldn't be much longer till the metal heads were one them. "You guys get the rift rider to the nest, we'll stay and defend your take-off and get-away."

Daxter pouted, crossing his arms over his fuzzy chest. "Once again, being your friend _sucks! _I wanna go on the balloon!"

Brutter nodded ecstatically. "You keep stadium safe while we prep balloon for lift-away." His great yellow eyes then widened, staring where Jak had glanced moments ago. "Uh-oh, here they come! Metal headers!"

Loor had her weapons out at once, turning to where a wave of monsters was coming for them. Jak was at the ready as well, Brutter running for the lurker balloon to get everything prepped as the two Samoses worked together to levitate and move the rift rider over to the balloon. Keira looked like she wanted to stay with her father, but saw that she'd be a target if she did and went for the balloon as well.

The lurkers on the balloon were armed with short clubs, and could keep themselves safe while waiting for their cargo, but the Samoses were the ones that needed protection. Thankfully, there were now two people with guns on the ground. Jak went to the elder Samos as Loor went to the Shadow's side. She had her pistol in one hand, aiming for the metal heads that presented her with a larger target because she was more likely to hit them. She also had her juice rod in the other hand, beating away any little ones that got too close.

Somewhere in the exchange, she felt blood spatter on her. It burned her, and made Lyra rattle at the mental cage Loor had given the animal. At the same time, as it singed her skin and made pain blossom in her temples, she also felt that tingle run up her spine; the sparks.

She'd learned to like them. There was something oddly... pleasurable about it. Somewhere in her head she knew it was her own personal addiction to eco, but most of her mind didn't really care. She knew that she liked it, that there was something gratifying about it... but far from satisfying. No, it left behind a craving for more. A twist in her stomach and a thick feeling in her mouth that made her want to open up and bite something; all of this was her body pining for more.

She began to ignore her gun, taking on more of the animals at close range. She indulged in the surplus of creatures, the steps towards the balloon going quickly as she focused on her task of keeping the metal heads away from her Samos with an amount of enthusiasm and gusto.

The only thing that slammed her to a stop was when she felt the burn on her skin escalate to a full on inferno. It was a pain too great to ignore, taking her out of the heady buzz she was getting, making her turn and look at what was happening.

Jak had also indulged himself, but he'd taken it a step further; he'd committed to the change. It had been some time since Loor had last seen Dark, but the shock was one she'd never get over. To watch the hero she knew change into a creature she rightfully feared. Both Samoses looked rather disturbed by the change, but didn't break from their steady course towards the balloon as this dark beast charged out into the thick of the metal heads.

A moment later, a shock-wave of energy exploded out from where he was, obliterating most of the wave that had been after them. The energy put out by the maneuver forced Jak back into his normal form near instantly, not missing a beat and pulling out his gun again to pick off some of the dregs.

The Samoses made it to the lurker balloon, lowering the rift rider to rest on the platform and hopping on themselves.

Loor looked up again, catching sight of Keira... who was staring at Jak. Her eyes were wide, her mouth slightly open.

She'd seen the monster.

"Up! Up!" Brutter called to the other lurkers on the balloon, the raft beginning to pick up from the ground. "And away!"

Daxter looked up as Jak was still shooting one last beast before watching his friends fly away. "Must be nice floating away while we _die_ down here!"

"We'll meet near the nest!" Keira called down, leaning over the edge. "See you soon! Be careful!"

Daxter snorted. "Yeah, _right. _Be _careful_ in a city overrun with the nastiest creatures on earth. _Sure._"

Jak didn't stall to argue with his partner. "We need to get out there, but something's still missing..."

"The precursor stone." Loor reminded, running past the guys to commandeer yet another vehicle; the one they'd ridden in was on the other side of the square and the metal heads were coming again. They needed to be in the air and out of reach... or at least she did. She only had three clips of ammo left, making her hip feel dangerously light. "C'mon!"

Jak was right behind her as she hopped one of the larger three-person zoomers. Slow in the air, but they could take a beating. She hopped over the driver's seat, settling into the left-passenger seat and letting Jak have the handlebars.

"Where are we going?" He asked once they were in the air and getting away from the stadium.

She didn't answer, stalling by pushing her wet hair back out of her face. She didn't have to answer... because Jak's comm. unit was complaining again. Of course he didn't hesitate to answer, but it was with a measure of disbelief.

Vin was calling them.

Jak and Daxter shot a look to Loor, who stared off and away from them.

Jak opened the connection.

"_Jak..." _Vin's voice was weak, hardly a gasp. Loor could imagine the man, ripped apart and bleeding, clinging to the message station in the power room, using his last moments of life to convey this one message. _"Kor... construction site..." _

There was a dull thud on the other side, like someone falling to the floor.

Jak hung up slowly. It was an extra few seconds, realizing that since they'd heard Vin last, when he was attacked, he'd been alive and trying to tell someone that final nugget of information.

Once his comm. was put away, he dropped the hammer and milked all the speed he could out of the zoomer.

Vin was dead, but no one would allow it to be in vain.

"You knew...?" Daxter asked Loor. "You knew he wasn't gone yet?"

"I couldn't say so." Loor muttered, still refusing to look towards the boys. "He... he was meant to die. That was his place in this."

"But... he's..." Daxter had trouble with the concept, overriding the usual need to save all that could be saved with the grander purpose of keeping things on the right track.

"Leave it." Jak broke in, defending her again. "She'll explain when it's over. Right Loor?"

She felt a frown tighten on her face. "Right."

* * *

The construction site was an area near the power station; a walled off square of the industrial section that had a building in the works. Whatever was being built there was long put on hold, the hall leading in full of forgotten supplies and dusty hard hats.

Jak noticed that Loor walked slowly, trying to drop behind.

"That bad, huh?" He asked, looking back at her. He could see the apprehension on her face and in her body language. She was tense, but didn't have anywhere else to be. "Kor's just an old man... Whatever he did, I'm sure we can take care of him, easy."

She shook slightly, keeping silent and watching the floor. Both of the boys knew she couldn't say anything, which left them to move along. There was a set of stairs leading up to a door and into the construction site itself.

The building must have been made to have a basement before construction halted, because it was currently a giant hole in the ground, not even a suggestion of a foundation laid. The door they'd just come through had a giant wooden ramp coming down from it, one that would take them all the way to ground level.

Speaking of ground level, the Baron was there. Praxis was leading a small group of guards into the center of the hole, marching as if it were some kind of parade ground instead of a muddy building project.

Jak's body exhibited a physical twitch; he'd been expecting to find Kor, but was instead faced with his tormenter not even thirty feet away. The opportunity was not to be missed for him, ducking down and sprinting down the ramp. Loor was right behind him, but her reason was not the one that ruled his mind. Jak's focus, as it had been since the beginning, was revenge on the man who had twisted him so. She just wanted to stay close to him because she knew she'd only be safe if she stood in exactly the right spot when things went to hell.

Praxis and his men had noted Jak as he approached the bottom of the ramp, but any move to hostility was stalled as the man they'd been expecting finally entered the scene.

Kor, from the upper reaches of some scaffolding, dropped down in front of Jak. He must have fallen at least fifty feet, but was not harmed or even pained by it, crouching down like an animal and looking up at Praxis with a feral expression. This caused the guards around the man to stall, watching him as he got up from his crouch to stand up and turn his smug eyes on Jak.

"Kor?" Jak was shocked that the crone had just pulled off such a feat. "What's going on?"

The man looked like he wanted to chuckle at Jak's stupidity, hobbling close with the use of his staff. "I'm sure you know..." He said using that grandfatherly voice, Jak backing off slightly at the man's approach. There was something new about Kor. Something intimidating and frightening.

Something that leapt to the surface as he spoke next.

"Deep down in your darkest _nightmares..." _His voice dropped to a hiss as his pupils shrank and his eyes became great gray-blue orbs of intensity, grinning at Jak with a maw full of needle-like fangs. "We've met before, remember?" He asked, standing up straighter and once again rounding to face Praxis and his men. "Everything is going exactly as planned..."

The man began to cackle, dropping his walking stick and letting it drop into the mud, coming to his full height and standing for a moment to breathe in the chaotic night. Thunder boomed overhead, rain pelting down and making the world drab and hopeless. Still his shoulders shook with the need to laugh at all of those assembled, though the shake seemed more violent than necessary. It was like something else was going on.

Which was because something else most certainly was. His shoulders suddenly bulged, the muscular mass expanding and shattering the human disguise he'd been wearing for so long. His arms ripped free of the facade, the connected muscles also pulling free, great cords of meat showing through his robes before breaking free, a triple set of dragonfly-like wings breaking free, along with a massive tail, body, and head with a gigantic skull gem.

Kor had taken his true form.

"Jak, it's the metal head leader!" Daxter yelped, staring in horror at the thing that now turned upon the Baron. It was now somewhat reminiscent of a dragon with several extra legs; three sets were on the ground plus a set of huge arms, battleship gray hide tinted blue at several points and several shiny, yellow, bulbous growths along his length, particularly gathered on the tail. Claws and fangs of pure white completed this dangerous picture.

Kor's head dipped down to be on the Baron's level, his maw bigger than Praxis was tall. When he spoke it was with a great and booming roar that was not even slightly reminiscent of the old man he'd been posing as. "Now you see! Without the shield wall disrupting my powers inside the city, I am at my full potential now! So for the last time, give me the precursor stone!"

The Baron, unlike his comrades, had a sword that he drew from his hip; a heavy and broad thing that glowed with the same green inner light that reminded Loor of the precursor stone. "If the city must die, then we all die!" He bellowed back at the monster, fearlessly leading a charge of his men. Kor recoiled up, backing up a step as his massive skull gem began to glow as well... but it's light was much more malevolent.

A sudden blast of energy flew from it, striking the Baron and causing a small shock-wave. Jak leapt to the side, grabbing Loor in the process to get her out of the way of flying debris, Praxis himself being one of the largest pieces slamming into a wall of scaffolding and empty metal drums. They collapsed about him, crushing the men who hadn't been killed by the blast. Kor didn't pause to inspect the pile of rubble, his wings working to draw him into the air. "I will find that stone if I have to crush this city, one brick at a time!"

Kor then rounded in the air, rising over the walls to leave the city to his army.

* * *

**The Author's Corner**

Okay, I take back the whining about the end-game. This part was fun to write. Kor's reveal was a major 'HOLY HELL' moment in the game for me, because it was one of the few events Damien didn't ruin for me when he borrowed me the game. Unlike the whole thing at the end of the third game. He totally spoiled that... and even though it had been spoiled, I was still like 'OMFG' when I actually saw it... God I'm a geek.

-Loor


	68. Lion's Den

**CLEANED UP**

**Clean up notes for this chapter: **An extra sweet scene between point A and point B... meow. Moving on.

**Disclaimer: I don't own Jak and Daxter.**

**Vacation or War  
****Chapter Sixty Eight- The Lion's Den**

Praxis was still alive in the broken pieces of scaffolding. A shift occurred here; Jak rushed to uncover the crippled Baron, but not to finish the job. These last moments, the selfless charge that Praxis had made on Kor, seemed to have made an impression on the blond hero. Yes, he'd been tortured for two years under the Baron's orders. He'd undergone pain and insanity, for what seemed to be the mindless cruelty of a tyrant.

The truth? All Praxis was trying to do was defend the city and the people inside. He was trying to save everyone, but had a twisted vision, unable to find the right path amid all the chaos. His intentions had been noble, but his methods were willing to sacrifice anything.

Loor helped Jak move the wreckage off of the man, who was coughing weakly under the metal pipes and wooden slats. His freedom was not vital to his life; that was already lost. Blood was soaking into his clothes, a thin dribble of red leaking from his lips. Regardless, he attempted to get up, lifting himself to his hands and knees while looking up at those who helped him.

"You two were the supreme weapons..." He lamented, rolling onto his back and laying there. He didn't attempt to expend anymore strength needlessly. "And I made you. Still, any leader worth his salt always has his backup plan..." A large and clumsy hand drew out a small box from behind his chest plate, pressing a red button on it. Jak turned slightly as the ground not very far away rumbled, mud and water moving away in a small wave as a set of metal doors below ground opened up, an exact copy of the piercer bomb rising up out of the ground.

With the precursor stone latched in on top.

"Remember, the first rule to making a bomb..." The Baron paused, effort going into drawing his next and last breath. "Is always make two."

His head then dropped, the one eye he still had closing while the hand with the button box fell limp. There was a respectful moment of silence for the fallen man, but a moment was all they had to spare. With a quick turn the trio advanced upon the bomb that Praxis had revealed to them; they needed to get the precursor stone loose so they could use Sig's suggestion.

There was a very large gun constructed outside of the metal head nest which used power from the precursor stone. Mar had built it, so there was no question of the weapon's adequacy for the job. No, the problem was juicing it up... and the exact tool for that purpose had fallen right into their laps.

Daxter leapt off of Jak's shoulder without being asked, though he groused liked he'd been ordered to. "Yaaow, okay, I'm going in!" He whined while scaling to the top of the huge bomb and slipping under the precursor stone to get into the inner-workings of the machine. Both teens could hear him scrabbling about inside, looking for some way to release the stone. "Man, what a mess of junk in here!" The ottsel's voice echoed back up through the metal shell. "All jumbled coils and switches! Should I unhook the blue wire...? Wait a minute... are ottsels color blind?"

Jak glanced over to Loor, a small smirk laced with anxiety showing on his face. Daxter was doing what he did best; lightening the mood.

"Let me just break a few more things and see if anything pops loose..."

Loor, despite herself and knowing what was coming, jumped when the precursor stone suddenly ejected from the clips that held it to the bomb, Daxter coming up at the same time and shouting, "BOOM!"

Jak caught the stone, snickering as Daxter laughed at her for getting spooked. "Gotcha!" He jeered, coming down the bomb to get back on Jak's shoulder and get moving. "Like candy from a baby!"

Loor growled in the back of her throat, but couldn't help a small smile. "Let's move it. We need to finish this."

At that moment, no one argued with her. The metal head nest was in the wasteland; a large and barren land beyond Haven's walls that was unforgiving and dangerous... and _very_ far away. At least an hour in the air train. Now that they had the stone they'd need to get out there as fast as possible.

The sooner they got out there to kill Kor and cut off the metal head army from it's leadership, the sooner all the bloodshed would stop.

* * *

"You don't have to come with for this."

Loor had been enjoying the silence that had taken the air train for the past half hour. The ride was a time where nothing could be done, the trio relaxing in the darkness, the precursor stone casting a dim and eerie glow. Daxter had shaken the rain water off and curled up on one of the benches, taking a power nap before the final fight. Loor had been exhausted too, but unable to sleep when she stretched out on the bench she had to herself.

Jak was across from her, sitting up, when he said this.

"I know." She answered, not moving from her prone position. "But I want to see things through. I've already come this far... what would be the point of chickening out?"

She then looked at him, noting his body language. His expression and posture would always say more than he ever could; he wasn't even looking at her at that moment. He was looking down at his boots, bent over with his elbows on his knees, clumsily and half-heatedly twiddling his thumbs, clearly distracted and distressed. It was as if he suddenly came to a realization that rather disturbed him, and now he was trying to talk her out of being there for the last act of this adventure.

She didn't have to think about it for long when he didn't answer her. It was like a brick to the head; he thought he was still going back home. Back to Sandover. That was the whole point of bringing the rift rider so deep into enemy territory. Jak didn't know, not yet, that the rider and ring were meant for his younger self and young Samos so he could grow up safe from harm, only to return to Haven city when he was older to defeat Kor and the metal head menace. No, in his head, he was heading for a death match with a monster and then he'd be getting the hell out of Haven.

And he knew she wasn't going with him.

"You weren't thinking about the fact that you were going home too... that we'd end up separated either way." She said slowly, levering up from her bench and shivering at the damp feeling on her skin. She was all wet from the rain; they all were.

"At least it's not a death sentence for me... that's what I was really worried about with you. But..." He sighed, nodding. "I don't want to leave you either. I... I know you got your stuff, but if you're there when we take off..." He shook his head. "I might just grab you and drag you along."

She had to bite her lip. She'd forgotten about all the major things Kor revealed at the last second. Instead she got up and crossed the cabin to sit next to him, leaning on his shoulder. At first it was in hopes of bringing him some comfort, but she also found out that he was warm, or at least warmer than she was, through his shirt. "Don't worry about it." She advised, resisting the urge to duck under his arm in a search for heat. "You won't have the chance."

His aqua eyes shifted to her for a moment before looking down again. "I kept thinking like we'd get a chance to work everything out at the end. You talked like it too. I know... I know I'm not supposed to ask, but does something... happen? Does something change?"

It was her turn to shut down completely, closing her eyes and shaking her head. "It won't be long, you'll see everything for yourself. Please, just trust me. You're the one who said no distractions. Keep your head on straight."

"This _isn't_ a distraction. We've got a long ride and nothing else that's pressing. If this is my last chance to talk you out of killing yourself, I might as well take it."

"You're not going to talk me out of it." She snorted, lifting off of his shoulder to look at him directly. The cold was bitter to her, but she'd bear it while arguing. "And I already told you, as long as I work quickly... everything will be okay."

He could feel her glare, looking up and meeting her, but not raising her. It was a warning; if she wanted to turn this into a physical fight he would dominate her. They both knew it, but her body was tense anyway. He noted her hands forming into fists, but her energy ultimately restrained.

"No, it won't be."

"What the hell do you know?" She growled.

"You'll separate off. You've told me; no one back where you're from can or would believe what's happened to you. Sure, you might survive, but you'll be stuck alone... probably for the rest of your life."

"So what?" She got to her feet, trying to contain her wish to swing at him by moving otherwise. "I've always been alone! I've got a couple friends but I've never completely trusted any of them, my family treats me like a little child, and in general society I'm one in several million! Nothing is going to change when I get back, besides the fact that now I've got more anger issues than I left with and now when someone _really_ steps on my toes I can actually rip them apart!"

She hadn't noticed that, with every statement of just how isolated she had been, she'd reacted emotionally. Her heated energy brought a hot and damp feeling to her face.

"Why the hell do you have to be so freakin' difficult anyway?" She continued on before he could say anything. "I make one little slip of the tongue and now you're ready to tie me up before you'll let me go on my merry _lonely_ way! It's not gonna be okay cause life's gonna suck? Life's _always _sucked. The thing that was supposed to get me on the map ended up taking me past doomsday, and even if I get it to work again the world can never ever know- _GAH!" _

She cut off from her rant, yelping as the air train hit some turbulence, the floor under her feet shaking as the vehicle was buffeted by the winds from the storm that was still raging outside. A sensor was beeping, a small red light in the corner blinking as a warning to passengers about rough air.

Another harsh bump and she was knocked forward, off of her feet... into his lap. He'd caught her, pulling her up off of the floor but holding her still. She was on her knees on the floor as he embraced her around the shoulders, once again taking the chill away from her.

"I'm the one who's being difficult?" He chuckled. "Look at yourself..."

It was only now that she noted she had begun to cry, anguish tearing her between what she felt she needed, and what she wanted. Every synapse in her brain was attached to the thought of home, of getting out of Haven and thus out of harm's way.

But here she found warmth and the first sentient being since her mother that she felt she could actually trust. Where she laid her head was so far detached from games and stories; no, he was so much more than she'd ever fathomed.

"Just leave me alone..." She muttered, though the words made her hurt on the inside. It wasn't what she wanted to say, but the words came out all the same.

He chuckled, squeezing that feeling right out of her. "Never."

* * *

Though no rain came of the clouds over the wasteland the storm still rolled over the sky, turning it darker than one might think possible. The air train landed at the very edge of the nest, Jak, Daxter, and Loor departing together with their weapons drawn. Loor had the stone for the moment, able to easily operate her pistol with one hand and letting Jak have two hands for his morph gun. Daxter was too small and too busy biting his nails to be useful.

They were now entering the belly of the beast. Cliffs rose up before them, harsh winds carrying sand from the desert behind them. The only hint that they were in the right place was the signs that someone had been building here; empty eco barrels, elevators up the various levels of cliffs, and metal guard rails.

But there was more than a few hints that they were at the nest. As they left the train and moved for one of the elevators to begin ascending the cliffs, metal heads came out of burrows under the sand to repel them. Not that it mattered; half of them were shot before they could make it completely out of their grainy hiding-holes.

Loor imagined that there was usually a greater force of beasts to keep the unwanted out of the nest, but most of them were part of the army that was storming Haven city. They'd come to strike the nest when it was, coincidentally, at it's weakest. It was a paltry force of beasts that attempted to stop them, and failed.

Up several elevators and through some narrow passages in the cliffs, it wasn't long before they found the machine that was going to make their doorway into the nest proper. It was a long machine with several parts that eventually led up to the huge pipe; basically a gigantic gun.

Mar's weapon for blasting his way into the metal head nest, left to rust with time as the Baron had tried every other way of fighting the metal heads _but _the one that the city's founder had planned. It was surrounded by metal walkways and platforms, a lift on the side to bring an operator up to a receptacle that was perfectly shaped to take the precursor stone and use its energy.

It was on the approach that Jak's comm. unit went off. Daxter, with nothing better to do, was the one to grab it out of his hip pouch and answer it. It was Ashelin.

"_Where are you guys? I don't see you anywhere in the city." _The woman sounded distressed; things were not going well.

"We're at the nest!" Daxter answered as they boarded the lift. "Trying to hit 'em where it hurts."

Ashelin paused; she'd called to deliver bad news. _"There isn't much hope now. With the shield wall destroyed, it's just a matter of time before the metal heads overwhelm us. You should just go through the rift back to your own time, Jak, and get away from this horrible place. Loor, don't bother hanging around, go with them." _

"I see your point..." Daxter muttered. "Come on, guys."

The lift had arrived at the top, Jak and Loor putting away their weaponry to give the precursor stone a shove into it's place on the machine. "This place is worth fighting for!" Jak answered with a slight strain in his voice from forcing the stone into it's old spot.

"_We'll hold out for as long as we can!" _Was all Ashelin had left to say. _"Fare well!" _

She hung up, leaving Daxter to put the comm. unit back and watch. Jak was looking from power source, to machine, to their target. "Precursor stone. Gun. Nest!"

Loor backed off slightly as Jak reached for a large lever.

"Light 'er up, padre!" Daxter cheered.

Jak actually laughed, a grin on his face. "Eat this!"

All the pieces of the gun began to move, green light blasting from the precursor stone and sparking the whole mechanism to life. Loor stopped thinking 'gun' and started thinking 'energy cannon' as the sparks of eco energy leapt from the various moving pieces for a sudden beam of green to shoot out of the barrel and strike the rock wall across the cliffs.

The rocks exploded, leaving a wide door-way.

"That ought to wake 'em up!" Daxter said, astonished.

Jak was still charged up, a downright insane smile on his face. "Let's go take care of business!"

"What? You mean, go in there...?" Daxter's ears had fallen, ducking behind his friend's back. "Ah... I'm right behind you..."

Loor teamed up with Jak to pull the stone back out of it's receptacle; the thing still glowed with energy, so neither of them wanted to leave it where the metal heads could find it. Once again it was given to her for the carrying, but somewhere in the process she'd ended up making eye-contact with him.

She couldn't help matching that grin.

"Let's do this."

* * *

**The Author's Corner**

You know how big twists stick in your brain, and then you forget that they were a big twist? Yeah... that kinda creeped up on me.

Anyway, enjoy the chapter. MEOW!

-Loor


	69. The Light

**CLEANED UP**

**Clean up notes for this chapter: **Oh my, another chapter that's going to be massively longer than the original scene cause I'm not so afraid of putting Loor into major story events. WOOT!

**Disclaimer: I don't own Jak and Daxter. Please don't sue me. **

**Vacation or War  
****Chapter Sixty Nine- The Light**

The metal head nest was a disgusting place, what little plant life that managed to grow in the wasteland twisted by eco into thorny monstrosities, the bones of the dead used by the living for basic structures that offered protection from the harsh wind and sand that characterized the wasteland. The whole place reeked of eco, rotting meat, and blood.

Despite the army that was already in Haven, a greater force was moving out. Giant metal heads, not unlike huge and twisted elephants, made their way through the nest. Like siege weapons to follow the invading force, this massive creatures wouldn't be able to use the tunnels that had been opened below the city, but they'd likely be able to rip through a section of the wall on top.

If they ever made it there. They, and all of the others, needed a leader. Without a queen bee, all of these beasts were workers with no directive. Killing Kor would make them scatter, and make them fall into place like any other beast of the wilds. They would go from being an army to being an infestation, no longer working with a single mind and easier to exterminate.

Most of the large creatures ignored Loor and Jak as they made their way through the horrific fortress, seeking the innermost point; the place where Kor would be hiding, directing his army and waiting to hear the good news; that Haven, the last major force of humans on earth, had been wiped out.

Loor had checked her bullets after every encounter. She didn't want to be caught with her pants down, so to speak. Each time they met up with a metal head that noticed and fought them, she had to look into her pouch and made sure she had at least another clip to spare. She had three, actually, counting the one currently in her gun. She was just paranoid.

She had a right to be; they were getting _very_ close. They'd passed from the outer areas into a cavern that was full of strange plants that were growing in nightmarish shapes. Things that had been so twisted by the constant presence of dark eco eventually grew glowing nodes that looked frighteningly like metal head eggs, making her wonder just how the metal head reproductive cycle worked. All the lesser beasts seemed to have no differences between them or any sort of gender markers that she'd seen so far. Actually, Kor hadn't really either. He'd just taken a male form as a human and had a big and booming voice that one wouldn't associate with a female.

She wasn't going to ponder it much longer. The cavern drew down to make a wall between them and the next chamber, an open passage allowing them to enter. She realized that she was holding the precursor stone still, under one arm as she kept her pistol ready, but no fear or apprehension formed. With every sense on alert she found that, despite where she was, everything felt... _right. _The sick feeling that she'd gotten a few times when things had a chance of going horribly wrong was not present, and that gave her some confidence as she followed Jak into the final chamber.

It was a round space of rough rock and glowing life; mushrooms that had taken on an odd purple glow and pulsing eggs near the ceiling, giving off a lime green light. More light came from an important object in the room; a large precursor ring that was floating on it's own accord near the ceiling, a bright blue glow coming from it as well. The floor curved down to a hole in the middle, big enough to drop a car into and not scrape the sides, and seemingly endless. Some sort of organic ropes hung from the ceiling, like orange vines that also had some of their own luminescence. Most of them hung limply, but a particular group had been pulled tight by bearing weight.

They attached into Kor's brawny back between his wings. The beast hung in the middle of the room by way of these strange cords, facing the opening in the wall that hero, sidekick, and outsider had just come through. There was a ledge of rock that they stood upon, at head-level with the monster. The floor was a good ten feet below them, if not a little bit more. Kor's face was drawn into the human expression of a smile, which his metal head form was obviously not accustomed to, because it simply looked viscous.

"Finally, you've decided to join us." The creature hissed. It was at this time that Loor noted his tail; it had been coiled up at the side of the hole in the floor, and now it drew back to reveal the kid; the little boy that was indeed Jak's younger self. He was currently unconscious, held in an orb of dark energy that drifted away from the monster to tuck away against the wall. "And you brought the precursor stone. Good. The boy will now play his final part!"

Jak was also staring at the child; such cruelty served to anger and disturb him and Daxter, turning their attention back to Kor and glaring. "Not this time!"

"Oh, but this child is such a part of this! Such a part of _you!_" A particular joy in Kor's voice made him sound all the more menacing. "Don't you recognize him? The boy is you, Jak! And this place... this is where you began, in the future!"

Jak took a step back, as if he'd been struck. Another glance was given to the child. His naturally tan skin, the green hair, and though they were closed at the moment, everyone could remember his innocent blue eyes. The two were one in the same... with about fifteen years difference. "But... how?" Was all he could manage at that moment, since the lizard was feeling chatty.

"You were hidden in the past on the hope that you would gain the skills to face me today. But Onin was wrong! Now that you've been altered with dark eco, the stone will never open for you. Your younger self, however..." Kor's great head turned greedily towards the child for a moment, easily distracted by his beastly intentions. "Still has the pure gift. He alone can awaking the stone and the precursor entity, which sleeps inside!"

"The stone..."

Loor felt everyone's attention shift to her and the object that was _still_ in her hands. Kor's gaze, a laser-lock of yellow, made her want to crawl into a hole and never come out. Jak's jaw was slightly slack, getting sandbagged by so much at once. "... is a precursor?"

"The last precursor egg!" Kor confirmed, his tail beginning a lazy path back and forth, the same way Lyra would sway hers when she was particularly smug or entertained. "Mar was clever. He covered his tracks well through time, hiding his last egg from me, and building the shield and city to defend it! It has been a long siege, but today I will finally feed on the last precursor life force!"

In all of this horror, Daxter had a brazen word to throw out. "Ah, I think you're forgetting one little thing, Metalo-Maniac! _We've_ got the precursor stone!"

If possible, the monster's grin widened. "Not for long!" He challenged as his skull gem began to glow with that evil intensity again. Loor knew what was coming, and was aware of how her frail body would be damaged. Instinctively, when the blast of energy flew, she stepped back. Kor had not aimed directly at them; apparently he knew what would happen if the stone was destroyed, and thus had aimed to crush the rock shelf under their feet.

Loor had stepped off of it while Jak and Daxter fell. Ten feet, with at least half a ton of rock, would be a killer landing for your average human being.

But Jak was far from average. Loor could feel it as he went down. They'd both fought metal heads on their way in, and taken on more than enough eco. She could hardly feel it at the moment because of the way she'd locked Lyra away, but Jak had been growing more and more aggravated as they'd gone along.

She could feel it as he fell; the sparks that danced up her back, that burned her while making her lick her lips at the same time in her hopeless addiction. His power was exploding out, protecting him from the fall. She didn't need to worry about him.

Which was good, because she was the one holding the precursor stone, and Kor was now leering at her. The monster stretched his body away from where he was hung from the ceiling, getting close enough for Loor to smell his rancid breath. He could fire another blast of energy at her, but he seemed to deem that unnecessary.

"And _you." _Kor's voice reflected the fact that he thought the trouble twins had been crushed, unaware of the sparks that were radiating up from the pile of rubble on the floor. Dark would break through at any moment, talons ready for business. "I was going to eat you, but if you'll just drop the stone and run we'll call it a draw."

Loor had become a deer in the headlights. Again she met Kor's eyes, and froze as those great yellow orbs stared at her intently. They flecked to the stone that she was now clutching to her chest with both arms, having put away her gun at some point. What was the point? Even if she shot this creature in the face, she imagined it wouldn't do much. He'd fought every creature that ever thought himself a hero, and probably ate them all when he was done with them. That was what she was smelling; the rot in his stomach, the disgusting core of his monstrous being.

Despite being frozen, unable to fight or to flee, she did answer him. It was a rather simple answer, one that came off of her tongue easily.

"No." She muttered, eyes wide, body drawn back but her feet glued to the floor. "No."

He snarled, charging up again. He planned to blast her at point-blank range, head lowering slightly as to avoid the stone. He didn't have to kill her instantly; just ensure that her death would be eminent.

She stared into the glow of his skull-gem. She imagined it hot to the touch as it charged, turning to a blinding intensity.

Still she could not move. She told herself to move. She said it under her breath, commanding movement but unable to. All she had to do was run. Jump away. The doorway was too small; he wouldn't be able to follow her. Jak would kill him, and she'd come back when it was safe.

She couldn't look at the gem anymore, it was so bright.

"Move Loor." She told herself. "_Move." _

_Move. _

_**FUCKING MOVE YOUR ASS! **_

The energy shot off, once again exploding the rock shelf and expanding the way into the cavern. At the same time Jak's body came free of the rubble below, Dark in control and shaking off the large hunks of rock as if they were no more than pebbles. Kor's head drew back quickly, since his neck was right over that pile of rocks while he'd been threatening Loor. He'd seen her throw the stone at the last second, past him and into his cavern, but he'd have to retrieve it after he'd dealt with Jak. Heroes were so stubborn when it came to dying.

That's when the monster noticed something else. He felt something on his back. He'd been sure that Loor had not moved, but even he was blinded in the last second of his ability.

He could feel it, there was a person on his back. More than that, he felt the delicious sparks of eco coming off of this person.

Loor had abandoned her natural form. Realizing what was happening, the monster frantically tried to shake her off, shifting his body as the next crucial seconds played out.

Jak had regained control of himself, Dark fading from existence and the hero bringing out one of the most dangerous guns in his arsenal. The peacemaker was in his hands and charging up.

Lyra, locked out of Loor's mind for so long, had only the most miniscule amount of time to understand what needed to be dead in this situation. Her claws helped her stick to Kor's back, snarling and quickly seeing the orange vines that were keeping the beast suspended from the ceiling.

The idea wasn't questioned, throwing herself at those vines with her talons ready for the rending.

Kor let off a surprised bellow as he unexpectedly detached from the ceiling. It was too fast for him to free his wings and save himself from a tough impact with the ground, his side slamming down and his head hitting the rocky wall of the room, a roar of pain shaking the cavern as his huge body slid into the hole a little bit. Still, he'd managed to right himself by then, his many legs digging into the ground to pull himself upright, yellow eyes searching for his two targets. There was some hope that he'd crushed the girl when he fell, but he now knew better than to assume.

His head was driven into the wall again when he was hit with the energy blast from the peacemaker. The shock was one that he could handle and survive, but a directly shot to the head left him disoriented, blinking and shaking his head, dropping his arm-like appendages to the ground to steady himself.

That's when Lyra's claws dug into him again. She was under him, somehow clinging to his belly, ripping through his thick hide. His reaction was to flatten his body to the floor, but she scaled his underside too quickly to catch, ripping at him, the eco in his blood fueling her. He drew up when fangs went after his neck, shaking himself and feeling her fly off. His vision was returning, and he quickly charged another blast from his skull gem while seeking one of the two humans to destroy with it.

He sighted Jak, across the cavern, taking aim once more. Kor had freed his wings by now; this next moment was all or nothing. Either he'd kill this hero, or he'd make his escape through the large precursor ring near the ceiling. Without a specific precursor artifact there was no telling where in the past or present he would end up, but it would be better than staying here and dying at the hands of two humans.

Man and beast took aim at each other.

Jak shot first. The charged ball of particles flew and slammed into Kor's glowing skull gem, reacting with the dangerous energy that was already gathered there. It shot back into the beast, making his huge and ugly body shudder and shake. Major damage had been done, but Kor still attempted to fly. He aimed himself for the rift ring, but missed, catching himself on the side.

Energy arced around the ring as it twisted in the air, acting like a static spark to gasoline fumes. Kor's body undid itself, the eco in his blood causing what could be described as a small explosion. Bits were blasted everywhere, the only part that stayed effectively in one piece being his head. It flew away from the rest, landing near the cavern wall. A close examination would reveal the skull gem to be cracked down the middle, though still gently glowing after the death of its owner.

Kor had been destroyed.

Jak looked around quickly, putting his gun away and realizing that Daxter had somehow clung to his shoulder the whole time. The kid was near the wall, the dark orb of energy that had been holding him disappearing as what was left of Kor bled out, leaving him unconscious on the ground. The precursor stone was near him, safe and sound.

He didn't see Loor.

He blinked, looking about frantically and finding her on the other side of the cave, once again herself and clearly passed out. He rushed over to her, since her boots were _way_ too close to the hole in the middle of the room for comfort. He scooped her up, moving her to where the kid was now coming around, blinking and looking around the cave.

Jak had to stare at his younger self. He'd never even seen pictures of himself when he was a little kid, and didn't have any memory of Haven city at all. Still, getting captured by a giant monster was kinda traumatic. He'd probably locked those memories away in secret places to die on their own.

He then looked down to Loor, whom he'd arranged on the ground for the moment. There was nothing else he could do for her, but it downright amazed him that she'd known all of this and managed to keep her mouth shut. She'd known about Kor from the very beginning, and the kid.

"Sheesh..." Daxter finally found his voice again. "You sure make trouble for yourself. If we weren't such good buds I'd tell your little self to find a different best friend."

Jak snickered, looking at Dax with a smirk. "Oh, and let you miss out on all the excitement? You'd never met Tess."

It was now that the kid noticed the precursor stone, softly glowing only a foot away. His blue eyes lit up with curiosity, reaching out and touching the green stone.

Upon contact, the stone flashed and the glow left it. What had caused it to burn so brightly drew up into a white humanoid figure floating above it, impossibly tall and thin.

"Oh man..." Jak felt shock going through his person once more. "A precursor."

The white figure spoke with the deep and authoritative voice of the precursor oracle statues._ "It is finished... our ancient enemy is no more. Take hope, brave ones! The terrible darkness inside you is now balanced by a glorious light! We will meet again..." _

The figure then turned in the air, going to the ring which was now spinning at a more furious pace. Jak was left to stare after it, unable to digest that even before another one happened.

The lurker balloon bearing the rift rider and all of his friends had arrived, Brutter expertly piloting it through the entrance to the cavern and setting down near where everyone was either standing, or, in Loor's case, passed out. Keira was on the edge of the raft, hopping down to the ground before the balloon completely settled. "We don't have much time. I've set the coordinates back to our village. Let's go home, everyone." She said quickly, urgency in her voice. She wanted to get out.

Jak shook his head at her, a realization hitting him. "But we are home."

Keira opened her mouth to question, but her father took her elbow to gain her attention. "Keira, I'm afraid your rift rider must be used to send young Jak here to a place where he will grow up safe from harm." Samos gestured to Jak's younger self, who had noticed the bird that was usually perched on Samos's head log and was following it as it was spooked into flight. "He must become old enough to complete the destiny he as fulfilled today."

Jak caught the kid before he ventured too close to the gaping hole in the floor, picking him up and placing him on the raft, next to the rift rider. Keira was still glancing about, confused and looking mildly upset. She'd been so set on the idea of getting back to the village, and now she was faced with being stuck in Haven for... well, the rest of her life. Still, she wasn't the only one having trouble with all this.

Samos's younger self had just realized who else had a time twin with fifteen year's difference. "Wait a minute, it's you!" He cried. "I mean... it's me! I have to take him back and watch over him, don't I?"

The elder Samos nodded, sadness showing on his face. He remembered how his younger self was feeling now, but it was all for the greater good.

"Ah, grub roots!" The younger man huffed. "Talk about being in the wrong time at the right place!" He then clambered aboard the rift rider. The kid was about to board too, but Jak caught him for a moment to get his attention.

"Hey kid... you take care." He said softly, though it was odd that he was well wishing himself, technically. "Oh, and trust me on this..." He crouched down to be on the same level as the child. "Stay away from _any _wumpbee's nests on your ninth birthday, okay?"

The kid nodded quickly, smiling at Jak as if to assure him all would be well. As a last action before climbing onto the rift rider, he took the seal around his neck, the one that proved him part of Mar's linage, and pulled it off, handing it to his elder self to keep. He then turned and got onto the seat next to young Samos.

Keira was finally getting with the program, backing off from the rider and musing about it's construction. "I sure hope I built this replica right. I don't know if it..."

"It's perfect, Keira." Her father assured her. "This is the very machine we found, or will find later."

"What?" Keira's brow furrowed. "I _just _built this, after seeing the first one, I mean. It's _based_ on what I remember from..."

Daxter broke in. "Honey, the _more _you think about it, the _more_ it hurts the head!"

Jak's younger self was playing with the controls on the rift rider, ending up activating it. The ship had begun to hover and was aligning itself with the rift ring above. Young Samos was looking back, shouting down to them. "I'll take good care of the child! And don't worry... I'll be back in time for the celebration! Fare well!"

The rift rider suddenly accelerated, vanishing through the ring. Shortly after that, the glow from within the ring faded, the various pieces of it slowing and then stopping in the air, falling to the ground in a heap of useless precursor metal.

Jak turned to his old mentor. "Thanks Samos. Without you..."

"It's funny." Samos was still looking up at where the ring had been. "The boy won't remember any of this..."

"No..." Jak shook his head. "I _do_ remember the light!"

* * *

**The Author's Corner**

WELL HOLY FUCK WE MADE IT.

Or have we? Loor is still very passed out in this scene, and there's about to be some fun to be had with her.

For those who remember... Lyra's game is about to begin.

MUHUHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

-Loor


	70. A Glorious Return

**CLEANED UP**

**Clean up notes for this chapter: **First bit here is practically new, but then the bit at the end we're entering into something that was _much_ fun, though now it has a purpose this time around... hehehe...

**Disclaimer: I don't own Jak and Daxter**

**Vacation or War  
****Chapter Seventy- A Glorious Return**

First light had come upon Haven City. The storm the night before had blown out perhaps an hour before dawn, the rising sun coming up beneath of the trailing edge of the cloud. The light began to dry out the damp morning, the streets strangely quiet for what had been a bustling metropolis the day before.

Though washed by the rain, corpses still lay in every street. Several buildings had damage, whole walls having come down into the road in a spray of bricks and mortar. Much of the blood had been washed into gutters, so many of the motionless bodies simply looked to be people and beasts who had fallen and were yet to get up. It masked the horror with the strange idea that maybe everyone had fallen asleep suddenly to have the same nightmare.

In south town, Ryan had dared to leave his and Morgan's dwelling when the sun came up. He hadn't slept, armed with several guns that they'd kept stockpiled for the very occasion. He'd defended the whole apartment building from the front security door, other tenets helping him upend some furniture for a blockade and revealing their own stores of munitions when the monsters tried to break through. Thanks to the group effort, all that were in the building had managed to survive the night.

And for some reason, right around the time the storm had cleared up, the metal heads had lost focus. There had been some stragglers, but then everything stopped and became as silent as the grave.

Some of those in the building had offered to take shifts of watch after that, but Ryan had assured them that they could just go to bed. He wasn't going to sleep.

His sister was out there. Morgan had left, as always, to keep tabs on Jak the morning previous. Nothing stood in the way of her mission, even the entire metal head army. He'd called her when the shield wall had failed, begged her to come back and hide... but she refused. Nothing mattered more than her single-minded drive to know.

When the sunlight came through the smashed door, Ryan was glad that not all of those in the building had followed his direction to return to their apartments and rest. Two men and a young woman had kept him company, though there was no conversation as they all strained to hear noise from the outside. Now that light was coming, Ryan got the urge to see the outside.

"I'm going to see what's out there." He announced, standing up and abandoning the long barreled rifle he'd taken to for most of the night. Instead he chose a pistol from the weaponry that had been laid out on the floor for easy picking and choosing, clicking the safety on before jamming into his belt. The only problem was getting over the upended desk that was the main and heaviest piece of their blockade. There were a few tables, chairs, and otherwise beyond that, but he could worm his way through those things. The desk, on the other hand, took up the whole hall. Side-to-side, top-to-bottom. He'd need the help of those there to move it.

There was some reluctance, but eventually they agreed that they couldn't hide forever. They pulled the heavy desk down, letting Ryan crawl through table legs and on top of chairs until he reached the door to the outside. From within the hall, the others watched him fearfully. They expected a monster to be waiting for him, to appear from the side and take him down.

Instead, the guy turned back with one of his dazzling smiles on his face. "It's over... wake the others. It's all over."

There were tears on his face; some was joy, some was sorrow. One couldn't be completely happy with the outcome, but when Ryan emerged it was at the same time as several other people. Guards, civilians, leaving their bunkers and homes and coming blinkingly into the sun. They all looked to each other, yelling out greetings and asking how many of their party had survived, those who had led the way out onto the streets coming together and clapping shoulders, bringing groups of survivors together as those with more authority tried to figure out what to do next.

Some guards, holding on to their full armor and thus their anonymity, still tried to assert the fear that Praxis had installed in the people... only to get steamrolled. The people no longer cared, and many already knew that the head had been cut off of their tyrannical government. It was only those, who had discarded their helms or even all of their armor, that were able to get any attention. Despite having abandoned the guard, Ryan knew where several emergency supply caches were. Automatically he began mastering crowds of survivors and directing them to where they'd be able to find first aid, and food in case their stores had been ruined. Other members bearing their tattoos instead of their armor began to rush to where those caches were to moderate distribution and prevent looting.

More came into the streets. Far more had survived than the number that had been lost. A general noise began to hum in the air; a dull cheer. People were finding friends and family who had made it, discovering that the city had not only survived, so had its people.

Above this, a different noise came. The sound of the air train that was usually in south town returning. This caused Ryan to snap his head up; he knew that Jak, Daxter, and Loor had taken that vehicle out of the city to go to the metal head nest. Morgan had smuggled herself on board as well; hiding herself in the front compartment where a person could override the auto-pilot and drive the train manually. She hadn't, of course, she'd just used the space as a way to quietly follow the boys.

Usually the air train coming and going wouldn't cause much of a stir, but a lot of people snapped to attention when it came in that morning. What person, or persons who had taken the vehicle the night before, would come back to this god-forsaken place after seeing what was happening the night before? The whole of the port section, all who had a view of the landing area, grew silent to turn and look. Many ran to crowd around where the train would land, eager to see and welcome back another survivor.

The train turned in the air and alighted on the road above the water. Ryan was one of those who had moved for a closer look, though he had to be at least fifty yards away. It didn't matter, he was tall enough to see over most everyone there.

The red vehicle's door came open. From the distance, Ryan could not see the passengers until they began to step out. There was a stout and old man with an odd skin color, a young woman whom he recognized as Keira, the two of them supporting another young woman...

_Loor. _Ryan couldn't mistake the black hair and the red scarf holding it back. Loor was unconscious, being carried by these two others. He felt a flare of fear; had what had happened at the metal head nest cost more than that? Where was Jak? And Daxter?

They came out next, stepping into the light and looking at everyone there. The city knew Jak as a monster, but also as the man who had stuck it to the Baron on the racetrack. There was tension; all eyes were on him as he stood at the very edge of the air train, not stepping down unto the pavement just yet.

He turned back into the vehicle, grabbing something and bringing it out, lifting it over his head.

It was the head of Kor, the metal head leader.

The cheer was overwhelming. Ryan was practically jumping up and down; the proof that the war was truly over was right in front of him. He was sure Morgan was just fine; curled up in the front of the air train and waiting for things to calm down before she clambered out.

Jak was taken into the sea of people, having trouble transversing it since everyone wanted to touch him. The only marker to where he was being the huge trophy he was still lugging around. Ryan imagined Daxter wanted to keep it.

He began to push his way through the crowd, fighting his way over. He wanted to meet the hero again, but he was also worried about Loor. There was a lot of apologies and general shoving, but a lot of people backed off when they saw Ryan was one of those guards who wasn't wearing armor, joining the people by showing their faces.

It was soon enough that Ryan had intercepted the heroes. Daxter recognized and yelled for him, but it was impossible to hear over the noise of those around. Shaking his head, the tall boy simply took the lead of the entourage and began to try and split the crowd for the party to come through.

Not the most effective thing on the planet, but better than how things had been going a few seconds before. Ryan kept glancing back for direction, trying to figure out where they were going. Eventually Daxter pointed to the Hip Hog; it was close and where the ottsel wanted to take the trophy anyway.

It still took the better part of an hour, fighting the adoring public every step of the way.

* * *

Loor was within her own mind. She wasn't sleeping, or dreaming, for she didn't feel any of the comfort or rest that came with such actions. She didn't feel particularly weak, so it wasn't that she was trapped inside just because she passed out.

No. She was completely alert, but in her head without entering on her own power. This left only one conclusion as to why she was standing in the darkness.

Lyra had somehow pulled her in. It didn't make sense, with how she'd locked the beast away... until memory reminded that the animal had been able to stage a take-over when Kor nearly blasted her to kingdom come. Fear had addled her so much that though the cage had not broken, Lyra had been able to slip out and save her life. From there the animal just had to manipulate the girl's awareness to keep her inside, even after the exhausting effects of the transformation wore off.

Which meant she wanted to speak with her hostess.

Loor began to look around herself, searching for some way to get to the room that she and Lyra usually met in. She was in the dark place, the blank slate that she found now and again that could be manipulated into anything. It made her uncomfortable; usually she arrived in their room, not in this place. Curiosity drove her to take a step.

That step fell straight through the black. What had felt like a floor to her one moment turned to air the next. Her whole body twisted to try and regain balance, but the solid area she'd been standing on had also decided it wasn't a weight-bearing area anymore. A short and surprised yelp escaped her as she dropped through space, watching and seeing that the black flew up and away from her, purple walls showing at the edges of her vision.

She was falling into a room, but it still wasn't the room she was used to. It certainly looked like it at first, with the pillows, blankets, and soft carpet... but something was off.

She landed on huge cushions of violet, but she quickly rolled onto the purple carpet and glanced about, wary of where Lyra might be. Something was going on here, and she was desperate to figure it out before the animal showed her face. Theoretically, she was caged up and unable to interact with her, but Loor was doubting that cage at the moment. It was the feel of the place.

Lyra's presence permeated. Not even seeing her, or in contact, and Loor could sense violent intentions from the animal. She was here, somewhere, and _pissed. _

Loor noted that the room was devoid of any green.

_**Welcome...**_

The purr came from behind her, the feeling of Lyra's tail tracing between her legs and lifting up her robe slightly before slipping away into a shadow as the girl turned. Loor hated to admit, but she was shaking slightly. Something was going on here that she most certainly had not expected. The absence of green was the absence of her _own_ presence in the room. Green was the color that showed her mental domain, the parts of her mind that she owned still, despite the eco.

But this room... the walls, the floor, the blankets, the pillows... everything was purple in various shades. Even the light, though sourceless, seemed slightly violet.

_What's going on? This isn't right..._

_**But of course it is...**_ Lyra let go a short giggle, still prowling out of sight as Loor quested about for her, all of her senses on full alert. **_You locked me away. Tossed me into a corner of your brain and... tried to forget about me. You gave me a cage, I figured I might as well decorate it as I wish. This is my... mind... my domain... so to speak. _**The animal suddenly appeared before her, bursting from the darkness and bowling Loor over in a full pounce, sitting on her chest and grinning. _**This plotting thing... planning... it is so difficult for me, but perhaps it will pay off, hm? I let you put me down here. I told you I had a way to destroy you, didn't I? A way to take control from you... now we will play my game. **_

Loor desperately tried to remember their last encounter; Lyra had been at her weakest, so she hadn't been surprised that locking her up was so easy at the time. Had the animal actually gone in willingly and feigned fighting? It would be acceptably sneaky on Lyra's part, but also a tad complex for the animal. She must have been absolutely desperate.

The girl looked into the beast's eyes, the black taking her into a whirlwind of loathing. Desperation was an understatement. Lyra would not allow herself to be trapped in a body where she had no say. She'd rather rip apart Loor's mind and turn them both into a drooling vegetable.

_What kind of game?_

The beast leapt up and off of her host, landing on one of the lofts and stretching out with her tail up in the air. As she did so, the wall below the loft split into a door of dark wood. _**I've made a path back to where you could re-enter your domain... the part of this brain that is exclusively yours. All you have to do is beat me... and I'll even give you a head start. There are games between here and there, things to slow you down. Figure them out, pass them quickly, beat me...**_

Her tail fell down, thinking about what she would commit to if she lost.

_**And I will exist quietly here. Lose, and I will be able to take your place. Your physical form will be mine, and you will be left with my form... and it's attachment to eco.**_

_Do you really think that will work?_ Loor asked as she got up, dusting herself off and making sure her robe was in order. It was odd to concern herself with decency in her own head, but with how little Lyra concerned herself with it, someone had to take pride in being properly covered. _Your psyche is not fitted to my body. You need eco just to function on the inside... do you really think you can get out there without using it up? _

_**I will try.**_ Lyra's tail, though down, began to sway. It was the same lazy motion Kor's tail had made while speaking about the war he and Mar had been engaged in for years, searching for the precursor stone to destroy what was left of the precursor race. **_And if I cannot keep your body without expending my life-blood... I will hold your form until it kills us both. _**

Loor sighed, shaking her head and looking at the door that Lyra had made to appear. There didn't have to be a path or any games; that door could have just been her way back... but for some reason the animal wished to stall her. There were several questions that came to mind, but Loor would puzzle them out on her own as she traveled this... 'path'. She was good as puzzling.

Stepping up to the door, she felt a little bit like Little Red Riding Hood, entering the woods where she knew the Wolf would be. Whatever games Lyra had planned, Loor was sure they would be specially designed to rip her mind apart as well as delay her from her goal.

She took the knob, a hunk of amethyst, and swung it aside.

* * *

**The Author's Corner**

Kehehehe... Looks like Loor isn't out of the woods yet, so to speak.

CHOCOLATE! 86 percent cocoa... special dark... DELICIOUS.

MEOW.

-Loor


	71. Lyra's Game

**CLEANED UP**

**Clean up notes for this chapter: **Oh look, something that only got SLIGHTLY longer with the re-write, and that's after I deleted some stuff. XDD Wow, I'm good at this game. WHICH I JUST LOST. ACK.

**Disclaimer: I don't own Jak and Daxter... damn.**

**Vacation or War  
****Chapter Seventy One- Lyra's Game**

There was a hallway beyond the door, short and simple. As always there was no actual source of light, the area dimly visible without following the rules of the real world. Once she closed the door behind her, she felt as if she'd been shut up in a metal box. She'd been cut off from something, but what exactly it was, she didn't know. She shook the distraction off, moving ahead as the darkness lifted somewhat.

The hall was cold stone, but the floor was strangely warm and damp. Ahead there was something hanging from the ceiling, a thick liquid dripping off of it intermittently. Loor's curiosity was quickly perked, making cautious steps forward. She had no fear or urgency; Lyra wasn't a creature made for pandering, which is all this game of hers was likely to be.

No, the beast had something that was holding her back from a true take-over, or she would have done it the second Loor had fallen down into her cage. Either she hoped to discover what was missing through these games, or she was just trying to buy herself time before Loor learned a way to better lock her out. There was no reason to become frantic, to fear; but Loor was _quite_ curious as to what the animal came up with on her own.

She hadn't existed for more than a week and some, which left some wonder to how far her imagination could reach. What would the beast do to try and destroy Loor's mentality? She tired to anticipate and steel herself against anything that might make her jump or spook, and most squeamishness had been beaten out of her through fighting.

The dripping object came under a greater amount of light.

Loor thought she would be impervious to anything Lyra could have possibly thought up for her.

She was wrong.

The problem came from various sources, including how real the space around her felt. After leaving the room behind, she lost the ethereal feeling of a dream. The floor was solid, the walls were cold, the air had a strange smell wafting, humid and thick. All of her senses were engaged, giving her the attachment of reality. In a moment of clarity, of her eyes deciphering what she was staring at, her logical rationalization was broken.

A severed head hung from the ceiling, hair pulled into a tail that was then tied off by a scarlet length of cloth, suspended in the air from that. The hair was silver with age, gleaming in the all-too-dim hall, loose hairs at the base of the neck becoming sodden by the still dripping stump, where it looked as if the head had been ripped free of it's body.

The blood fell, drop by drop, unto a floor that was already completely covered by a thin and warm layer of the red ooze.

Loor was looking at the head from the back, also recognizing the long ears that marked this head as a person from Haven. She wasn't thinking about that right at the moment, though. Instead she was quickly moving around to see the face. Caution had been discarded in shock and the need to know.

The face was that of an old woman, age etched in wrinkles and stress lines. The face was also mutilated, but that actually made it easier to recognize who it was.

Loor would never forget the message inscribed on her face, across her forehead and the bridge of her nose, eyes left open and allowed to rot out after death.

_'Hide and Seek'_

"Teek..." Loor muttered, staring at the head and feeling somewhat sick. The person who had taken her and Fury into safety when they first arrived, who had lost her life because a KG had recognized Loor when she'd left the house... and the first corpse Loor had ever seen in person, not counting Fury's, when she found the woman dead, tucked under the bed in her home.

"Is that you, child? My eyes are gone..."

Loor jerked back when the head spoke, bobbing on the cord of hair and silk that suspended it from the ceiling. Rotted sockets shifted as if to direct eyes that were no longer there, looking for her, a strange smile taking and allowing another drip of blood to join the steady rain from her neck.

"You..." Loor swallowed, blinking furiously. "You're dead. This... you're just trying to scare me..."

"No, not at all. It's not often that a lady gets to come back and meet her murderer, you know."

"Murderer?" Loor questioned the old woman and her grandmotherly voice. She sounded _too_ cheerful. That and she was a talking dismembered head, continuously bleeding out on the floor, but ignoring all that she seemed quite glad to be speaking with Loor.

"Why yes. Errol would have never found my home if I had never taken you and your sister in. I died so that you could live... and he ripped apart my home, just to show off to you. Effectively, you _killed_ me. You know quite a few words, surely you haven't forgotten the definition of murder, have you child?"

"I..." She shook her head. It was the same logic she'd used to put the blame on herself, but she never put the full guilt of the act upon herself. She was no murderer. She'd caused the death, but she had not taken the life. "I didn't kill you... I never... I never meant to..."

"Oh, I know." Teek's laugh was, again, warm and comforting like an old woman assuring a small child all was well. "You never _meant _ill, but you still brought the wolf to my door. He burned my home, destroyed my art, and even desecrated my body... all for you to find. Don't you feel _special? _So many have been ready to lay down their lives under your feet. You must feel so honored. Vin died for you too. You could have saved him, isn't that true?"

She turned away, not wanting to watch the woman speak anymore. As she did the blood dripped faster, and occasionally a bubble would form over her mouth and pop, spraying flecks on both Loor and the floor. The girl could not stand it, seeking a way out of the hall and finding another door, heavy with a pewter knob, on the other end.

"Would it have been so terrible to save a life? Vin was quite brilliant. A credit to this world. Why not save him? Why let him die? You listened to him; you could have gone and helped... you couldn't stop yourself from killing me, I was dead before you even thought of the possibility. But him... you _knew." _

"Shut up..." Loor hissed, desperate to ignore her as she seized the cold knob and attempted to turn it. Sadly, the door was quite locked. Loor could feel something in the door; a puzzle that needed to be solved. There was something here that she needed to realize before she could move on.

Something in the hall that she had to know.

"You killed _her, _too." Teek's voice only now gained some remorse. "And she hardly deserved it. So young, so full of life and dreams... and you murdered her without a thought. You even teased her before it happened."

That was a raw nerve. Loor felt hate and rage well up in her, turning on the severed head that hung in the hall. "I didn't kill her. I didn't murder anyone. They were all accidents, plain and stupid accidents!"

"Or so you keep telling yourself." Teek actually giggled. "Are you quite sure? Vin was so brilliant. Were you jealous of him, child? Goodness knows you didn't like him knowing about your little device. Maybe you didn't trust him, and were glad to let history take his life. And I? I was nothing more than an ammo box. How were you to know that all my weapons and equipment would go with me. Did you even mourn my life, or simply my home? And of course Chelsea... she wasn't your friend. Her life must have been easy to end, you selfish-"

"I DIDN'T MURDER ANYONE!" The girl snapped, slamming her foot on the floor. "And _you!" _She felt herself pointing at the thing. It wasn't Teek, it was nothing more than an image, spewing out all the things Loor didn't want to hear, trying to get her to doubt herself. "You're nothing more than an illusion! Lyra didn't pull anything but your image and voice from my memories! Teek was a wonderful woman who deserved a place far greater than mine, an artist and visionary. Vin was beyond brilliant, and someone I was proud to call my friend, and am ashamed to have lost. And Chelsea..."

Tears came to her face.

"How dare you talk about her like that... I loved her. That's why I was so desperate to help her become a stronger person... she was my patient, and I had so much trouble trusting her... but she was my sister..." She blinked, looking at the Teek-head again, her gaze fierce. "Are you listening Lyra? Can you even understand what's being said here? Lemme put it plainly for you!"

She turned and put her hands against the door, closing her eyes and pulling her brain together. She knew the animal was somewhere, watching how she dealt with this, possibly laughing at her.

She hoped the animal had some earplugs.

_NO ILLUSION WILL SHAKE ME._

The door made an audible click.

The key had been to realize the illusion.

Loor's hand slid to the knob, a feeling prickling at the back of her neck. She _knew_ she was being watched, but she suddenly realized the boxed-in feeling she got when she first entered. She'd been cut off from Lyra's emotions and thoughts; she could no longer feel the beast or her intentions. The animal was hiding away from her, prowling in the darkness and Loor played her game...

The knob turned easily, the heavy door swinging ajar and letting a greater amount of light in.

Loor took a brave breath, sure that whatever was beyond would test more than her ability to realize what was real and what was an elaborate nightmare, attempting to sow doubt.

She would be right.

Beyond the door was a circular room, again made of stone but the floor clean and cold like the walls. The light cast sharp shadows, though the room was rather empty but for a single person standing in the middle. It was a girl, standing slightly taller than Loor's thirteen-year-old mental form and wearing a tunic not dissimilar to the ones that she and Lyra wore. Loor was dressed in her usual green, trimmed in purple. Lyra had been dressed in her violet, trimmed in green. Those colors were common themes within her mind, showing the presence of one or the other.

This person was another image. An outsider. She was dressed in black, trimmed in red. The robe fell to her knees, showing pale white legs riddled with red welts, scars, and other evidence of old damage that had been hastily patched and healed. She had a long crop of brown hair, left loose.

The person was perfectly still until the door had shut. Then she turned in a sudden flourish, her hair fanning out and her face revealed.

She had such pale skin, a somewhat mousey face, and another memory that Loor could not fail to recognize.

"Lauren!" Chelsea yelped in surprise, blinking a few times as their gaze's met. "What are you doing here?"

"I don't know yet." The girl answered, watching what looked like her friend warily. It was a better copy than Teek; more than image and voice had been brought into this. Her mannerism was innocent and fearful, making several steps to meet Loor in the middle of the room. Carefully, she matched, the two of them clasping arms for a moment.

"This is stupid!" Chelsea pushed Loor's arms out of the way, taking a hug when it wasn't offered at once. "I've been so scared, _onee-san! _Please tell me there's a way out of here... you can fix anything, right? There's a door over there, but it's locked and doesn't have a hole to pick."

Loor looked out to see Fury was correct. Another door was at the end of the room, looked to be carved from a single amethyst with flecks of green malachite in the golden handle. "I..." She stammered slightly, shaken by the hug. It _felt_ real. She felt like she was being held by her small and frail friend, but she wasn't so small. No, Lauren still had her young form here, what she looked like before she was tainted by eco. Fury, on the other hand, was clearly older and bearing her elf-like ears. "I'll check it out." She assured after a moment's hesitation, letting go and making a brisk walk to the door.

She imagined, like the last one, she'd be able to feel the basic gist of what she needed to do.

"_Onee-san, _will we go home soon? I've been waiting for you... you promised it was all a dream... but I guess I can't go back until you do, huh? I've felt like I've been sleeping since..." She paused, looking down to the long red scars on her legs. Lauren looked as well, confused by what this thing was telling her. It couldn't be the real Chelsea...

Could it?

She tried to shake away the possibility. She didn't believe in ghosts, and now was _not_ the time to start. Even as she denied the idea, memories of Chelsea's enthusiasm over the subject came back, how a spirit could follow a person they really cared about after death.

"What it really a dream?" She continued, fear still in her voice as Loor got to the door and pressed her hands to it. "Or... were you lying again? Are you okay? I've been watching all of this... I was afraid that you'd die too. But then I remembered it was a dream... or was it? You hung on though. I'm proud of you for that."

"_I-imoto-chan..." _Loor glanced back, trying to concentrate. "Just a second... just give me a second here. We'll both get out of here. It'll be okay."

A strange smile spread on Chelsea's face when Loor verbally recognized her as being her younger sister. It was one that Loor only caught the beginnings of, turning her attention back to the door. She could feel the objective, but the feeling as less direct than the previous lock. That one had simply felt like something was missing.

This one felt like...

"You lied to me all the time, didn't you... trying to keep me safe from the big bad world... and then you sent me off by myself. Did it hurt you terribly to watch me die?"

Loor turned, blinking and wide eyed. She could feel it now. The door was hot, and felt as if... something extra was there. Something had to be lost. Destroyed.

Killed.

The grin that Chelsea wore was not one that she expected to see on her sweet little sister's face. But something else had been lost in the transition, as Loor once again broke away from the possibility of reality and realized the nightmare that had been put in front of her.

Chelsea's eyes, a beautiful shade of jade, looked as if someone had spilled black paint into them.

"How do you open the door?" She asked with that torturous grin. "I've known all along... but do you know what you have to do? It should be easy... You've done it once before."

"I did not." Loor snarled. She had to focus on those black eyes, because the old cuts on the illusion's legs had begun to break and bleed. Horrible images came back, the stumps Fury's legs had been when Lauren had found her, the dark purple blood that had been seeping out from her body and into her clothes... Metal heads had taken her sister away from her. Ripped her apart as she let her go out on her own.

"No?" Chelsea's image giggled, putting her hands out as if she were shrugging... and suddenly having two pistols that she hadn't had before. The two she'd died with, one of them being the weapon that Loor now wielded. "You could have come with me. Was it that urgent that you saw Vin that very moment? You could have spoken to him some other time. C'mon!" The girl tossed one of the guns to Loor, who caught it without difficulty. "Kill me again, or let me even the score! Either way, one of us isn't leaving this room alive!"

"I can't kill you again..." Loor swallowed, checking the pistol. It felt just like the one she'd been working with on the outside, locked and loaded. "Because you _are not my sister!" _

Loor made a dead run at the copy, not giving her time to fire, keeping those black eyes fixed in her brain. This was not Fury. Couldn't be. It was a shadow-puppet, a fake created by Lyra to make her hesitate.

She lowered a shoulder and tackled the frail body over, following it down to sit on it's chest and aim down, right between the eyes, with both hands.

She looked down the barrel. It stared up at her. The black dripped down like tears of ink, hissing against the white skin and burning it. It didn't seem bothered, lifting up the pistol that it had kept in Loor's hesitation.

"You killed me first... _onee-san." _

She roared, knocking away the approaching barrel and aiming down again, screaming as she pulled the trigger. She didn't scream out loud, instead speaking with her mind. That was how Lyra would hear her and understand.

_I DIDN'T KILL HER! _

The body under her went limp. The door clicked open.

Loor stood up quickly, not looking down at the mess below her as tears streamed down her face. The pistol dropped from her hand as she stared at the open portal. Again, it was brighter on the other side, but the glow was not warm. It was too yellow, foreboding and warning of a new challenge.

_What now, Lyra?_ Loor quested, not moving just yet. _What else could you possibly have for me? I know you're watching... what's been the point of all this? What's holding you back...?_

_**Why not come in?**_

The animal appeared on the other side of the door, stepping out delicately on all fours and then standing up to her full height, leaning on the frame to grin at her host.

_**I've been losing my mind trying to figure this one out.**_

_You made it. _Loor snorted, assuming the animal was teasing her.

_**Actually...**_ She left the frame, turning to walk into the room beyond. **_No I didn't... I assume you did. _**

Loor blinked as she watched Lyra's tail vanish beyond the door, stalling only a second before following after.

* * *

**The Author's Corner**

MEOW! UM UM UM UM UM... yeah. Just yeah. MOVING ON!

-Loor


	72. Balance

**CLEANED UP**

**Clean up notes for this chapter: **Ideas changed a little bit, but MEOW! WE'RE ALMOST DONE!

Sadly, I won't end on a ten or a five. I like ending on tens and fives.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Jak and Daxter.**

**Vacation or War  
****Chapter Seventy Two- Balance**

Stepping into the light, Loor found Lyra standing in front of a mirror. The animal seemed quite agitated with the reflective pane, one hand raised as if she intended to touch it, but hesitating just a quarter of an inch short. Her tail was down and all the hair on it raised, the tip twitching left and right in agitation. She growled softly every few moments, diving her hand forward and dashing her talons on the mirror.

She yelped in pain, blasted back by some sort of protective aura. Loor felt it too, but it didn't make her cry out. No, it was a sympathetic pain that told her that she and Lyra were linked once more, able to sense each other's thoughts and emotions... and pains, it would seem. The animal did not lay on the floor for long, which was paneled with wood instead of stone. The walls were smooth, like plaster, with simple designs near the top and bottom. The mirror blocked the hall-like room completely, but Loor could clearly sense a door beyond.

The door was her way back. The entrance to her proper mind.

She stepped closer to the mirror, seeing herself in it and almost not recognizing herself. Who was this young girl, nothing more than a short thirteen year old with silver-blond hair and bright blue eyes? Was this truly who she was?

A step closer let her see the mirror was slightly distorted. Some warping caused her reflection to stretch and shift to the middle of the mirror, though she clearly stood off to the right.

Also in the mirror, she could see Lyra getting up once more. The animal was snarling at her, but also grinning. She expected Loor to reveal the secret of the mirror, when the girl knew nothing of it. She hadn't created it. Whatever it was, it was not her invention.

Like her darker counterpart, she reached out to touch it. Would it repel her as well?

She couldn't help a scream when she came in contact with the cool glass, the rude shock of electricity running through and burning her. It did not throw her, as it did Lyra, but it did force her to take her hand back from the surface.

In the moment of contact, she came to understand more intimately that this was not a creation of her own. No, not even an unconscious safeguard. It felt different. Things of Lyra's creation were often warm, or extremely cold. The animal could do nothing in moderation. Things of her own did not stick out to her at all.

But this mirror, though it burned her, had been comfortingly cool to the touch.

_**This is why I drug you down here now.**_ The animal hissed, coming to join her. As she stood to the left her reflection also warped and shifted to the center, making it look like they were occupying the same space when they stood at least three feet apart in the wide hall. **_I had planned to bring you down sooner or later and take you over, but then... this thing got in my way. Right after I fought for you, saved you from Kor... _**She hissed at the mirror. _**I cannot pass it. Cannot break it. Cannot touch it. It has lined my cage at all sides, and left me helpless to your control.**_

Loor stared at it, trying to think of what it was. If it was the way Lyra said, it was something that had changed just after Kor had been killed. Perhaps they had somehow been effected something from the outside...

The precursor entity that the kid released.

"Take hope, brave one..." Loor muttered, the exact quote running through her head. "The dark rage in you has been balanced by a glorious light..."

Lyra turned to yowl at her host now. _**What are you babbling about? **_

_The light. But this isn't balance... this is binding. And it's trapped me too... _Loor shook her head, sure that there was something more to this. The warping was the key...

_Lyra. Sand a bit closer to me. _Loor took a step closer to the center. Sure enough, her image warped even more. If she squinted, she could see the person she'd become. Older, taller, scarred by all that had happened.

_**What light? I don't trust you, nor do I follow your orders.**_

_That's just the thing._ The girl was staring intently at her reflection. With the warping, she had become incomplete. Only half of the image was there, and it was incredibly unclear. _I don't think this was meant to trap you, it was meant to force us both to see something. To understand. _

The beast growled, stalling a moment more before sliding a foot over, following by the rest of her body, her other foot coming over and her tail centering behind her.

As she joined Loor in the center, the image completed. Loor saw herself, dark hair and ears included, green and purple eyes showing clearly, the basic trimmings on her robe showing as thicker violet cuffs and collar, the colors showing a greater presence.

_Forget the cage. _Loor said while reaching out. The mirror crumbled under her touch. _I don't have to control you. I just have to trust you._

Beyond was a door, chips of malachite and amethyst mixed up on a pale blue palate. There was no lock, nor knob. It simply drifted open. Beyond, instead of the ever changing light, was the room they both knew so well. Green and purple, mixed up in various forms of bedding.

Loor took the door in hand, turning back to Lyra, who was still standing there. Her ears were back, her chin raised, apprehensive. _**This changes nothing. I still hate you and wish to take control from you... and I can feel that you still dislike the fact that I exist. Why would you dare trust me? **_

The girl managed a smile. Away from the mirror she appeared blond once more, young and small. Despite all of this, she held out a soft hand. _You need to trust me too. It doesn't matter if we like each other... we need each other. We might be at war for the rest of my life... but hell, did you want this existence to be boring? _

The animal blinked, a toothy grin coming to be as she finally stepped forward, her tail coming up again. Still, she did not take Loor's hand, passing her by and dusting her tail under the child's nose.

_**Alright... but next time I get to put you in a cage.**_

For once, Loor didn't argue with the animal. All this time they'd been fighting over something so simple; control, dominance. Loor had wanted her mind to go back to the way it had been, with her in a sole position of unquestioned authority.

Tonight, she'd been forced to realize that wasn't possible. The eco was permanent, and something she couldn't avoid, ignore, or shove under the bed. She had no doubt that Lyra would have killed her if she kept shoving her around. But another point had been made here, the one that led Loor to trust Lyra instead of fear her.

They needed each other. If she was to survive, be it for a few months or a few years, she needed the animal at her side, not under her.

Entering their place, she shut the door and willed it out of existence, finding the beast curled up on the loft that ringed the room. Her tail hung down over the side, lazily swaying under the blanket she'd nuzzled herself under. As Loor watched her, Lyra indulged in a long yawn that was even squeakier than her host's. All were signals that their collective eco was spent. Loor also had the urge to lay out and settle into true sleep, but she also wanted to return to the living world and see what was going on.

_**Go.**_ Lyra's voice sounded drowsy. **_Your man is out there, watching over you... you should let him know that all is well before you come back in here. Anyway, I do believe you two had quite a bit to discuss, now that all the action is done with. _**

_He is not **my** man._ Loor grouched, approaching the wall anyway to make her way into the waking realm.

_**Is that so? **_Lyra let off one of her melodic giggles. **_As I understood it, that action you call kissing isn't something you do with just anyone... and I'd say cause for some anger if he was doing it with anyone else._**

Loor didn't answer, the dark portal opening for her to step through.

Like other times she'd forced herself to wake up, stepping through the hole in the wall led to falling freely. She turned herself, no longer bothered by the sensation and closing her eyes. Falling went to floating, and then she began to realize the world around her. A hard mattress under her back, a stiff pillow under her head, and a rough blanket cast over her body let her know that she was back in the underground, likely in her bunk. Shifting slightly, she found that she was not alone in her bunk, held safe and warm.

She let her eyes open, dim light letting her see next to nothing.

It wasn't necessary, she knew who was holding her. He was also awake, letting her go to sit up and look down at her.

She rolled onto her back, under him, to smile. "Hey... how long have I been out?"

"Couple of hours." He replied, putting a hand on the side of her face. "I was just beginning to worry..."

She snickered, reaching out so her hands could tell her what her eyes didn't in the darkness. His goggles were gone, hair left loose, the holster also discarded for the moment. Listening, the underground was silent. As far as she could tell, they were alone. "What are we doing back here?"

"Hiding from the crowd." He huffed, looking back and up to where the door was. "Dax loves his public... Me? I'd rather avoid the cameras... Ashelin is taking over her father's seat, since no one would believe that kid and I were the same person... and I'd rather not jump in and rule a city. Anyway, she's got her father's resolve... without all the twisted intentions. Good choice as any. She's gathering everyone up at the palace to stabilize the people... once the crisis is over, she'll announce herself and begin the recovery."

"Nice start." Loor snickered, pushing to sit up herself. She could feel the fact that her battle equipment had been removed as well, sitting there in her pants and sports bra. It was a comfortable combination for her, reminding of how she spent most of her summer at home using her sports bras like halter tops and pairing them up with jeans. "What about Daxter?"

"Taking the Hip Hog. Tess is doing the paper side of getting ownership moved while he redecorates the place. Should be done in a day or two, and then he plans to organize the whole city-wide victory party for Ashelin. Said she wouldn't do it right, left on her own."

"He knows his parties..." She agreed with a giggle, but it trailed off as the air between them grew tense. There were a lot of things that he had let her duck out of explaining, all with the promise that she'd tell him everything when it was all over. Well, things were quite effectively over, minus the celebration... and here she sat. She was sure he was just as hesitant to ask as she was to receive, but she also refused to let it hang in the air.

No, she wanted to get it over with.

"I suppose you'll want me to start at the beginning, huh?" She asked.

He hefted a small sigh. "I've already gotten a lot of bits and pieces from you... it's just filling in the blanks. As good a start as any is where the hell you came from, and how you got here... if you already knew about all this, why the hell would you come here?"

"That... was one big stupid accident." She sat up a bit more, re-arranging the pillow to be more comfortable. "Where I came from is also a bit interesting... have you heard of an event called the Calamity?"

"Samos talks about it." Jak confirmed. "Or, he talks about the rocks talking about it... that the oldest ones remember a horrible event, and the precursors 'cleaning' the world. He'd go on that none of them knew a time before the precursors, that they've always been there as far as anything on the planet could remember."

"I'm guessing all the rocks before that were melted..." She sighed, worried on how he would take this. Vin had helped her discover it, and was a man of science. All things were within reality's grasp if one could simply rationalize it. Jak, on the other hand, was Joe Every-guy with some can-do attitude and odd abilities and talents. "There was a time before the Calamity, where this planet didn't have eco. The people had actually progressed pretty far, but... it sounds like something happens down the way and we all kill each other. That time... is my time."

She could feel him staring. It drove her to explain before questions could be asked.

"I don't know when the Calamity happens, could be twenty years from when I left, could be two hundred, but something happened to get all the major powers fighting across the world. If that happened, at least the way I imagine it, we would have bombed each other using nuclear power. Nukes leave behind... radiation. It's like poison in the air that doesn't go away with wind and rain, that twists living things until their cells self-destruct. Like... like..."

"Like dark eco you can't see." He offered, seeing her difficult in explaining just how horrible the idea of radiation was.

She nodded in agreement. "As Vin and I understand it, my people nearly wiped themselves out... and then the precursors found this planet and saved us all. Eco came with them."

"But the planet produces eco on it's own." He pointed out. "Plants will make green eco, yellow eco wells up in swamps and near volcanic areas, red will show up there too, and where earthquakes happen, and blue shows up in concentration where there's running water or after storms. If what you're talking about is true, then the precursors would have had to change the chemistry of the entire planet-"

"And every creature with a nose I've run into so far has been able to detect that I don't belong." She cut him off. "Brutter said it himself, and so did Kor when I caught him alone, that I reek of plant-life that's unlike what grows in this time. Guess what? Plants die and end up in the swamp gas, get compressed into sedimentary rock and melted down when driven deep enough into the earth, and eventually cycle through the whole damn system. And what about dark eco? How is _that_ produced?"

"It..." Jak's conviction drained away. "They only find it underground in deposits, and locked up in precursor devices like the silos... you need to tell Samos about this."

"I'm sure I'll get the chance." She shook her head, moving ahead. From there she was able to explain the VC-M1 and everything else she'd discovered with Vin, though she carefully skirted the concept that Jak's story had not just been published as fiction, but a video game. What was the matter of the medium anyway? She also hopped over directly mentioning Morgan, though she did admit someone might have come from her time and seen his adventures, bringing the story back. She'd just rounded back to her and Fury's arrival, and the mess with the dark warrior program, when he stopped her again.

Mainly because she'd just mentioned the fact that the eco had made her grow older.

"How much older?"

She felt herself turning bright red. "I... chronologically, I've just turned thirteen. The eco reacted strangely with my genetic structure and accelerated both my and Fury's growth. We had been the same age when we left home."

She realized the implications of that now, though she hadn't thought about it previously. Jak was a seventeen year old guy. Too old for her, technically.

That wasn't what he pointed out though. "Nice that the eco let your body catch up with your brain."

"It..." She bit her lip, curled up in her corner again, away from him. "It doesn't bother you?"

"It's a little weird... but so is this whole freakin' mess. Anyway, I've seen more disturbing age gaps in Sandover. Does it bother you?"

She actually threw her brain at the issue for a moment. People had been telling her she was too old for her age since she was ten, and though she'd always tossed it to her massive vocabulary, it was also the fact that she had no concept of strange things children did. From gossip mongering to practical jokes that were more for making a person feel like a freakin' idiot than any real humor, she didn't get it.

The fact that she'd been allowed to skip those nonsensical years, though it had been torture as she got used to her older body, was quite possibly a blessing in disguise.

"Not as much as I thought it would." She admitted. "So... now you know. I have to say, it's been one hell of a ride..."

"No shit..." He snickered, smiling at her. "I don't really care that all of this could have gone down without you. I'm glad you were here."

With that he reached over and pulled her out of her corner, though she came quite willingly once the invitation was extended. In a moment she went from curled up with a pillow to relaxed against his chest, warm and listening to his heartbeat.

The next moment she realized how freakin' exhausted she was. She'd been awake for more than twenty four hours, and so had he. They both needed sleep before Daxter's party.

_After that, I go to Onin._ She reminded herself as she began to doze off. _After the victory party... I'm gone. _

The thought made her want to cry, but she was asleep before any tears could escape.

* * *

**The Author's Corner**

Well, THAT changed up quite a bit. ONWARD!

-Loor


	73. Abandon

**CLEANED UP**

**Clean up notes for this chapter: **Some extra fun, Morgan says buh-bies... yesh. MEOW.

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN JAK AND DAXTER. JEEBUS. **

**Vacation or War  
****Chapter Seventy Three- Abandon**

"Jeez, how hard is it to find a couple of heroes in this city? C'mon you two, you really think I didn't know where you'd run off to? UP AND ATT'EM!"

When Loor woke up again, it was to Daxter's voice. Moving even slightly she became aware that she'd been sleeping far longer than was normally acceptable, perhaps even eighteen hours against the full twenty four she'd been awake before. Still, it had been deep and dreamless, making her reluctant to leave it.

"Take it easy, Dax." She heard Jak chuckling. "How's it going out there?"

"The clean up is just about done." Tess's voice now. She must have come with Daxter. "The people have really banded together... Ashelin has proclaimed herself Baroness, and so far no one is fighting it. Repairs start tomorrow."

"Has she..." Loor felt attention shifting to her as Daxter began to speak and then trailed. "Has she woken up between here and there?"

"Yeah, we talked."

"Cool, cool, just worried. Anyway, the party at the new place is tonight! Which, in case you lost track of time down here, is in a few hours. You guys better be on time, or I'm totally ratting that you're official."

"Actually... not really. Not yet." Jak's voice sounded a little upset. "I need to set the record straight with Keira first."

"Ohhh..." Tess sounded somewhat worried. "I don't wanna be around for that... I mean, I've talked to her, she kinda knows it's coming... but..."

"I owe it to her to be honest. She is one of my best friends."

"Good luck." Tess well-wished.

"Thanks." Jak snickered. "We'll be down as soon as Loor wakes up. I hate to poke her after all the shit we've drug her through."

"See you there, partner!" Daxter said as Tess began moving for the door.

Loor listened, not moving until she heard the door closing behind them. Jak didn't seem too surprised that she was awake, nor disturbed by the first words out of her mouth once she was sitting up.

"What the hell are you thinking?"

"That I've mad a decision and I'm following through with it." He smirked. "I told you I wasn't going to leave you alone."

"It doesn't matter what you've decided to do." She seethed. "I'm. Not. Staying. Why in the world would you wanna ruin a perfectly good relationship for a girl who's going to be gone in the next twelve hours?"

"Maybe I don't wanna stay either." He batted back with a smirk. "Call it a vacation. I'm sick of adventuring, and I think I've got the right to decide where... and _when_ I wanna go."

"And what if the future ain't done with ya?" His smug expression was getting on her nerves, as was the idea that he'd so gladly abandon Haven to follow her. She couldn't oust that there was a third adventure, particularly not when she hadn't even played that game yet, but she could at least try and install some doubt into his mind. From the smile he wore, he thought he could get away scott-free. "Do you really think it's all over? What if..."

"What's my motivation?" He questioned. "Save the world? I'm dying thanks to the city I just rescued because they decided pumping me full of eco would be more effective than any other, less damaging, rout of action. They think I'm a hero today, but I know these people. They'll forget, and then I'm just a monster in a man's body. What do I got? What do _we_ got? Five, ten years?" He snorted. "Fuck it. I'd rather let the future die and spend what I've got left where, when, and with whomever I please."

As hard as she thought about it, she couldn't really find all that much wrong with what he wanted. He'd saved the world, twice already, and was basically asking said world to give him a break... and she couldn't think of a reason why he shouldn't get it.

But allowing him to come back with her sounded beyond crazy. How would she explain him? How the hell would he fit into her society without being marked an orphan or runaway and being taken as a ward of the state? She was going to have enough trouble explaining her changed appearance and getting a chance to carry out her own plans to ensure her own survival. Once that was done, she'd have to get to work on a way to self-destruct it all when she died so no one would find it and use it.

"I can't see how it'll work..." She sighed, getting up from the bunk and ducking her head under to find her things. Oddly enough, they weren't underneath for once.

"The back table." He directed. She turned to look, but all the lights were off, making the underground dim and difficult to transverse. She didn't argue or doubt though, getting up and making her way over. As she did, he followed. "And think about it. You could keep up with Vin, which means you gotta have _some_ brainpower in there."

"More than some, which would be the problem that landed me here in the first place." Her hands clumsily brushed over the table in the back, finding her shirt and pulling it on. "I can't let you. Not in the right mind. You may be able to abandon this future, but I can't."

"Let me?" He snickered, right behind her, taking her shoulders. She could feel the healing cut on his left hand, aware that she had one to match on her right. "How the hell do you plan to stop me?"

"Take off when you're sleeping... tell Onin not to let you follow..."

"Could you?"

He spoke seriously. He wasn't hurt, he actually wanted to know if she thought she had the capacity to just leave.

"I have to."

His hands slid down from her shoulders, eventually taking hers and then spinning her around to face him. She wanted to press up under his chin, hold onto him and what time she had left, but instead she just put her forehead against his, trying to talk a few times but simply pulling in a big breath and letting it out as a sigh every time she opened her mouth.

Now that she thought seriously about losing him, she wanted to hang on and never let go... but she was bound by her knowledge to leave. Quietly she damned her mind, the information she had. What if she'd just been a genius, and not a gamer? If she had come without his story in her head, she would have been able to enjoy his company without qualms, take him up on his offer to stay together without the awareness that she could be destroying the future of her own world.

But to be totally honest, she couldn't imagine going on in her life without him. The thought that had brought her comfort for some time; returning home and letting everything go back to normal, now brought her pain. An ache sat heavy on her chest, feeling like it was pulling on the muscles in her neck and making them tense around a forming lump.

_No._ She thought fiercely. _I will not cry. There's no point in it, nothing to be persuaded or won. _

"Lauren..." He said her name softly, her tears coming despite the desperate battle she conducted against them. His voice only brought out a damp sob, how gently he spoke her name.

_Why? Why I am crying? This childish action... _

Another deep breath taken to speak, her head shaking against his. "I don't want to..." She admitted. "I wish... I wish I was someone else... with a simpler life... why do I have to be the responsible one? It's... it's always me... and it gets so heavy..." She then lifted away from him, staring intently. "Why _do_ you have to be so difficult?" She asked, repeating her question from their last argument. "Keira's going to be waiting for you... that's the girl you're supposed to be with. Why can't you just forget about me? Just... let me go..."

"It's kinda like you and this future." He said without any deliberation. "You can't bear to see me throw it away... I feel the same way about your life. Someone like you should have something she wants... given the chance to be selfish. It's always the have-tos with you. You gotta get out of here? Fine. Do you _want_ me to go after you?"

"You _can't... _this place needs you..."

"I didn't ask that. What. Do. You. Want?"

She sniffed, biting her lower lip and raking the upper row of her teeth over it. She didn't want to say it. Saying it felt like giving him the license to be as reckless and stupid as he wanted to be, when she knew that was not what this future needed. She was going to end up destroying everything.

But he had asked, and she refused to lie to him.

"To be with you." Her voice was little more than a pathetic whimper. She drew another quick breath to deny the ability, but she choked and coughed on it, making him draw her up into a hug and pat her back until she was breathing properly again. Once there, he didn't let her go, and she didn't struggle.

His warmth, the safe and wonderful feeling of being held, drove away the ache in her chest. She knew it would return the moment she let go and pulled back, but she would delay that for every second that she possibly could.

"What are we doing?" She asked over his shoulder, sniffing still. "We're... both being silly..."

"What's wrong with being silly?" He asked, giving her an extra squeeze. "Is it so terrible to have a dream, or a fantasy?"

"They never come true." She snorted, bitterness taking her sadness. "Wishes and dreams, fantasies and their like... all pointless. Something I've never understood; pretending or dressing up, acting in some alternate reality... are we really so blind to think that we can warp the very fabric of the world and twist it to our favor? It's childish... immature."

He took her back to arm's-length, holding her shoulders and looking her dead in the eye. "You're telling me you never got into an adult's clothes when you were a kid and just... pretended? Or made props out of sticks and did make-believe games?"

"Never." She confirmed, blushing slightly. "I... never understood it. It wasn't real, why act like it?"

"You just _failed_ your toddler years." He said in a way where she couldn't help but laugh, despite how heavy the situation had been feeling. "Someone find a reset button, she needs to repeat the course."

"Girls don't have reset buttons." She groused, giving him a poke in the ribs.

"So you say." He defied, returning the poke and getting reminded that her ribs were quite ticklish.

Thankfully he didn't get much time to take advantage of that; Daxter called them to remind them that they were passing the line of 'fashionably late.'

* * *

The first hint that Daxter had done more than a little re-decorating to the Hip Hog came from the sign out front. Gone was the somewhat modest animatronic hip hog statue that opened and closed it's mouth now and again, the platform cleared for a _much_ larger than life statue of Daxter himself... with devil horns and a Triton, the free hand making the 'rock on' sign as the head bobbed now and again, as if the statue was headbanging. Below that the neon lettering had been changed as well.

The bar had been re-dubbed 'The Naughty Ottsel'.

Loor and Jak were not the only ones just arriving; there was someone else approaching from the other direction. Jak didn't recognize her, but Loor certainly did.

Morgan. The plain-looking woman smiled at the two of them, actually calling out to greet once she got close enough. "Loor! Can I talk to you?"

The girl looked between Morgan and Jak, and Jak shrugged. Given her extra knowledge, she wasn't going to miss anything on the inside. "I'll be right after you in just a minute." She assured, turning away from the door as he went on.

The street was strangely quiet. Loor knew it wouldn't last long; fireworks were planned on the evening, and the cleaned up streets could easily be home to music and dancing. Despite the silence, colored globes placed along buildings gave the evening a festive feel. This was simply a few moments of calm before people came flooding out of their homes for the celebration.

Morgan approached Loor with a smile, clapping her on the shoulder. "You did pretty well... for a kid from our time. Even the precursors like you."

"What did you want to talk about?" Loor asked quickly, wanting to get to the point. "Did I forget something?"

"Not a'tall." The woman's pleasant face took on a smile. Despite being so plain and over the hill, she was still pretty... in a simple way. "Ryan and I have successfully raided the Baron's cache of precursor devices. I don't think Ashelin has noticed yet... but all the converters that he dug up have been destroyed. Once you have left and Onin has recovered, I will be returning as well... though Ryan has decided to stay."

"You're letting him?"

"He's in his twenties; I think my little brother can make his own decisions... not to mention it's one of those situations where a love interest is involved. Race mechanic by the name of Mike, though the favored nickname is Mikey. Same guy who's family took him in when we first landed in Haven... those boys go pretty far back, not my right to drag him back to a time he doesn't even remember."

For some reason, Loor wasn't surprised that the love interest was male.

"Either way, I doubt we'll be seeing each other again." Morgan went on. "I'd give you my address for back home, but who knows where I'll end up by the 2000 block?"

Loor wanted to mention something about a penthouse or equally swanky lodgings, but kept it to herself. "No idea. Take care of yourself."

The two met for a quick hug, and then Morgan turned her by the shoulders to face the door into the bar once more. "Get going." She advised. "They're probably waiting up for you."

* * *

**The Author's Corner**

Uhhhh... yeah. Meow. Kinda short...

-Loor


	74. The Celebration

**CLEANED UP**

**Clean up notes for this chapter: **Holy crap, a chapter that ended up SHORTER than it's original. Scary. Well there was a whole lot of extra shit in this one that made me wanna gag, so once that was all cleaned out life was good. MEROAWR!

**Disclaimer: I don't own Jak and Daxter.**

**AN EXTRA NOTICE! **As has been tradition for me with all of my serialized (haha... serial...) fanfictions, the last chapter may be somewhat delayed because I will post it as the same time as the first chapter first the second book. Thus, when the site lag catches up with itself, chapter one of book two will be available for your reading pleasure. I also learned this gets more people to transition easily between the books and remember to add them to their story alerts, instead of waiting a day and possibly forgetting about it, only never to get another e-mail alert again.

God I've been on here too long when I know how the fuck FANFIC MARKETING works. Either way, we're entering the last few movements of this story, so let us buckle down and enjoy the ride, hm?

Because I finally found an ACTUAL REASON for the second book to exist. HOLY SHIT.

Oh, and also upon the final chapter going up all 'cleaned up' segments will be removed, as well as other author's notes. There will be legal info at the beginning and end of the fic, and otherwise the story shall be a clean read. Any extra changes I make to beginning chapters (which I will be making thanks to idea creeping) will be noted at the beginning of the next book.

**Vacation or War  
****Chapter Seventy Four- The Celebration**

"Welcome to the Naughty Ottsel! The hippest, happenest, happiest joint in town!"

When Loor came in it was just in time for Daxter's big announcement, giving her the urge to quickly trot away from the door and find somewhere out of the way to sit as the ottsel showed off the new place. Honestly, not a massive amount had changed. A lot of pictures of Krew and quite possibly his family had been taken down, replaced by photos of Daxter and some girly pictures one might expect in a playboy spread, but other than that it was still the same bar, booze, and booths.

Though Loor had missed the giant metal head trophy mounted above the door.

"Check out the new décor!" Daxter boasted, pointing it out to Tess and also getting Loor's attention. It brought back a disturbing memory for her; the moment before Lyra had taken over and saved her ass from the monster, but there was something satisfying about taking a closer look and finding the skull gem to be cracked, Kor's face forever frozen in a menacing snarl that was nothing but an empty promise.

"_Ohhh..._" Tess stared up. "What a big trophy!"

"As if size matters?" Daxter grinned. "I bagged that bad boy myself, baby!" He bragged.

Another voice drug Loor's attention back to the bar, yet to find a place to sit and thus spinning in circles to listen to everyone. Pecker was on the counter, along with Onin, who was drinking from a blue bottle. Onin was making signs with her hands, a bemused smile on her face. Pecker did his job, as always; interpreting her. "Onin says she doesn't know who has a bigger head, him or you!"

Chuckles went around as Daxter made an indignant noise, getting up around Tess's shoulders and draping himself there as the woman came over to join everyone else at the bar. Keira was leaning on the end, mug in hand, looking less than enthused to be present. Samos was there as well.

Loor noticed she didn't see Jak at Keira's side. She was starting to make herself dizzy with looking around, but her frantic search came to an end when she was once again taken by the shoulders. Looking back, she found Jak had been seated in one of the booths, by himself, now steering her towards the bar counter while joining the group.

As everyone gathered, Samos looked somewhat grim, looking to get the more depressing admissions out of the way before the party really got going. "We must not forget Vin, and all the others who sacrificed their lives to defeat this evil, and protect the child."

Loor found herself standing between Jak and Keira as the bound hero looked down slightly, drawing the amulet the kid had given to him out of his hip pouch. "I still can't believe... that little boy was me. Better times, huh?" He became mildly interested in his boots, a slight frown tightening on his face.

Loor felt the urge to say something, as taboo as it felt for her to speak during a scene she knew. "Lighter times at least." She threw out sarcastically. "Seriously, I carried that kid around a few times. I don't think I could even lift this guy now!"

He looked over to her, flashing a smile. "You could try, but do you really wanna embarrass yourself in front of everyone?"

She glared, a barbed comeback at the ready, but commotion on the bar prevented the situation from developing. Daxter was on the Bar, looking upset with Onin. The woman was now wavering on the spot, the basket on her head almost seeming too much for her to balance. "Hey! That's enough for you, lady! I'm cuttin' ya off!"

Onin's blind eyes shifted as she flicked a hand at Daxter, a sudden zap of blue knocking the ottsel to the end of the bar, where Pecker was cowering.

"Trust me," The moncaw advised, "she gets real mean when she's like this!"

Both animals focused back on the drunk woman, watching the one hand she was still making symbols with as she drank.

"What did she say...?" The ottsel asked, morbid curiosity overcoming fear.

Pecker looked shocked. "Something about rubber tubing and certain parts of your mother... you don't wanna know."

Jak was chuckling at his friend's misfortune, but snapped to attention a moment later when Daxter's gaze whipped back to the door. It had just opened, admitting a large and dangerous figure. Daxter let a scream go, which got everyone to look. "A metal head!" The ottsel cried.

Everyone turned to the door, particularly those with combat skills. Still, when they looked directly over there was no monster waiting for them.

No, just a man wearing the skulls of metal heads as armor.

"_Sig!" _Was the simultaneous yelp of many people in the bar. The last they'd seen of him, he'd been taken out by a gigantic metal head in the underport. Loor had known he was alright, but his sudden appearance after what she'd seen shocked her all the same, joining Jak as the guy went to greet the tall wastelander. "You're okay?" Jak questioned, elated and almost unbelieving at what he was seeing.

"You cherries didn't think some nasty breath, giant sized lizard was gonna keep me from the biggest party in town, did ya?" Sig laughed, a grin on his face.

Daxter, from the counter at the end of the room, was smiling like he'd known all along. "I knew you were too tough for 'em, big guy!" He then leapt down from the counter, scuttling across the floor and onto Jak's shoulder. "Hey! Hey! We should go outside! The fireworks'll be starting soon! The city had a big store of 'em; looks like our late Baron was planning a celebration of his own once the war was over."

"Gotta love a guy who does everything in extremes." Loor muttered, rolling her eyes as Jak, Sig, and Samos all made a procession to the door, Pecker also following after. Jak glanced back, raising his eyebrows to ask if she was following, but she shook her head in response. Instead she turned to the back of the room, going the way Onin had and helping herself from the saloon's extensive catalog of booze, searching out the wine she liked so much.

"What are you looking for?"

Loor glanced over; Keira had joined her behind the counter.

"Keira... I..." Loor felt the need to back away. She once again felt like the third wheel, and hated it. She couldn't imagine being in Keira's shoes at that moment. The blue haired mechanic detected this in Loor's voice and gave her a look that downplayed any sort of confrontation. She was just trying to help out, not start anything. "Uh... sweet stuff."

Keira looked back up, picking out a bottle and a mug and handing it over, picking up her own mug again before relaxing on the counter, watching Loor pour her own drink.

"Jak and I talked." Keira said when Loor wouldn't make eye-contact with her. "I... I can understand what happened between you two. I don't really like it, but... I get it. He's changed a lot from the guy I used to know."

"Did he talk about the fact that I'm taking off?" Loor asked as she put the stopper back in the bottle, still looking down.

"He made it sound like he was planning on going with you... wherever you're going."

"Stubborn son of a..." Loor swore quietly, shaking her head and putting her cup to her lips, enjoying the warm feeling that coated her throat. "I'm not going to let him. I can't. He belongs here."

"You're kinda a control freak, aren't you?" Keira noted. "Always talking about what people need to be doing, who they're supposed to be with, where they gotta be... you should relax for a night and just let things happen. Trying to roadblock everything has got to get exhausting once in a while..."

"You have no idea..."

Keira nodded slightly, turning to leave Loor be. The girl found herself nursing her cup, trying to shake off what the other woman had said to her. She didn't understand the complications that left Loor in her paranoid and somewhat neurotic state. She _couldn't_ understand, just like most of the city. Even with Kor dead and the adventure coming to a close, she couldn't relax.

She refilled her cup, breathing slowly and focusing on the warmth. What did it matter that she found a guy she liked? Romance had never mattered to her before. These emotional matters didn't even need to factor into her decisions. The only things that she needed to remember were the cold hard facts of the situation. _Fact._ There was another adventure that she hadn't seen nor played. _Fact. _She was likely to fuck something up big time if she stayed for it. _Fact._ Jak needed to be there to get through that adventure.

That was all that mattered.

_**Fact. You fell in love. **_

The girl nearly sputtered her drink, managing to swallow before she choked. _What the hell are you talking about? _

_**Don't think I haven't been listening. You're a mess, by the way, and it's making me quite sick. And I assure you this isn't my doing, I just wanted to have some physical fun with him... you're the one who went and got all attached. **_

_I didn't fall in love. Crushing, maybe... but for fucks sake, I've only been alive for thirteen years. I don't even know what the hell love is._

_**But you'd rather kill yourself than go on without him.**_

_That's attachment. I got used to him. I can't imagine it, but that's the joy of reality. It does things we can't imagine. _

_**You won't survive more than a week on your own. I guarantee it. It's not because you can't handle the challenges, it's because you won't want to. You'll get back and question why you're even trying to survive. I can already sense the doubts in your head.**_

_I'll survive because it is human to do so at all odds. It is natural to any race to continue on, despite all logical reasons to destroy oneself. Mothers will sacrifice children, the young will climb over the sick and elderly, all in the drive to survive. I have that same drive, I'm just as human. _

_**We'll see about that. Just don't forget the times you've considered ending your life, despite that drive, for the sake of this future. When you thought there was no escape, you were going to go and make one for yourself because it was better than altering the world around you. You're too logical to give into your animal drives... of course, that's what you have me for. **_

Loor noted the automatic action of her cup getting filled a third time. She'd been drinking through the whole conversation, her body moving without conscious thought.

_Then why don't **you** keep me alive? You have the drive; keep it at the front of my brain for me. Don't let me give up and forget. _

_**Gladly, as soon as you admit it. **_

_Admit **what?** _

"You okay?"

Her head jerked over; Jak had come back inside and was on the other side of the counter. She smiled, her face and body feeling warm and fuzzy. "Dandy." She assured.

"You should come outside. The display is pretty awesome." He then eased the cup out of her hand, finishing it off of her and taking the bottle from her to place out of immediate reach. "C'mon."

She felt the temptation to pout at him, but instead came around the counter and nodded for him to lead the way. The air outside was clear and warm, reminding of late summer on the very edges of fall. The humidity was falling, but the temperature was still up a little. There was noise as most of the city had turned out for the event, mingling in the streets and adding to the feel that the colored globes had already set the framework for. She could hear music playing from the intercom system that ran through the whole of the city, but all of that was currently drowned out by the explosions in the sky.

Great colored sprays lit up the sky; fireworks to celebrate the safety and rebuilding of Haven city. As they came out, Sig was ducking inside while removing some of his heavy armor; a party wasn't a time to be in full battle dress. Samos had levitated himself away from the excitement, landing on one of the floating platforms that bobbed about the waters of the port to sit by himself and enjoy the colors.

It was chaos of both sight and sound, something that she enjoyed. It was a display good enough to rival a fourth of July celebration, taking her back to things she missed dearly from home. At a time like this, she'd be running around with her elder brother, having a bottle rocket war with his friends in her back yard. Or maybe she'd be up with her sister on the deck, seeing how many they could get to fire from a jar with only one match. Dad would be inside, keeping everyone supplied in munchies and glow sticks, master of the kitchen and the junk drawer. Mom would be outside shouting advice for the war, or trying to teach her and and her sister how to throw the bottle rockets instead of firing out of a jar.

She, Fury, Alex, and Damian could all be in the yard, planning a sneak attack on her brother from the banks of the creek that ran through their land. Or lighting smoke bombs to keep the mosquitoes off with the sulfur. They lived close enough to the fairgrounds that they didn't even have to leave home to see the display, and they usually would drive into Wisconsin to get the good fireworks for their own display. That was how it had gone that year, just a few months ago.

The explosions came closer together, patterns made with the bursts of light as the show began to draw to a close with the grand finale. The noise killed her ears, but she didn't bother to cover them, just staring up.

She was reminded that she was returning for more than keeping this future safe. Her past _was_ something that she missed when she thought about the right parts of it. Her family, and her friends, were all good reasons. They didn't know what had happened to her, and she hadn't a clue of how she'd explain... but she'd retake her life if at all possible. It wasn't all terrible. There were great moments, just like this.

She felt left hand taking her right, the scars on their palms matching up and making her blink and look over.

He met her gaze and smiled. She couldn't help but return it, giving him a squeeze as the final bursts deafened all who were in the port section.

"Anything like this happen back where you're from?" He asked. Clearly the display had been a treat for him, coming from a time where most technology was things cobbled together or inspired by the scraps the precursors had left behind. Fireworks could have possibly been figured out by the red or yellow sage, but both were pictured as shut-ins who probably didn't spend much time with such trivial discoveries.

She nodded while giggling. "Once a year... and we've got little stuff we can fire off ourselves."

"Tell me about it." He insisted, starting to walk along the edge of the port strip. "You already know everything about my past, I want to hear about yours."

"It'll be a short list if I only stick with the good stuff." She warned, snickering. "All to do with my family... not much I wanna mention outside that."

"Count yourself lucky that you actually knew yours." He pointed out. "I've never even knew my parents. I could have a brother or sister floating around somewhere out there and never know it."

"It's not all it's cracked up to be." She had a rueful smile on her face. "My big brother is great... fun, but a pain in the ass."

"Bad as Daxter?"

"_Worse." _

* * *

**The Author's Corner**

Because we all love ratting out our elder siblings on the internet. I LOVE YOU NII-SAN! BUT YOU ARE A JERK-WAD! Seriously, my big brother is cool... but an ass. Big time.

And holy shit, will we actually manage ending on a five? Maybe, maybe not, particularly if I decide to put the epilog in there the way I planned... BAH! MEOW!

-Loor


	75. Return

**Vacation or War  
****Chapter Seventy Five- Return**

Between telling stories, booze, and literally dancing in the street, the night of the celebration was a jubilant blur in Loor's mind. If asked to pick out particular memories she probably could, but only if she thought _really_ hard about it. The main points she could recover were all that really mattered; she had a massive amount of fun, relaxed, and ended her evening back at the underground hideout. She and Jak didn't have to return there at the end of the night; Ashelin had a room made up for them at the palace, along with several other underground agents, but they'd chosen to return to the bunk they'd been sharing since Kor was defeated.

A few clumsy kisses also floated on her memory, but the warm and fuzzy feeling she got with alcohol had also put her to sleep faster than she thought possible. Add that onto snuggling up with _him_, and she was in for one of the best nights of sleep in her life.

Waking up was the difficult part.

Her mouth was dry, reality rushing in with the light they'd left on when they came and settled in, both of them too lazy to get back up and turn it off. Her face actually hurt from how much she'd been smiling the night before, but she had no reason to stretch out those muscles as she lifted her head and blinked, trying to clear her bleary vision. The hideout was as it had always been, untouched since Kor had been taken out.

Yawning and feeling her jaw pop, she winced and looked back at the person she was sharing her bunk with. Jak was still sound asleep, not at all disturbed by her sitting up and getting her bearings. Both of their pillows had been used, those there had been no need with how close they'd been sleeping, the blanket that they'd shared getting displaced as she got up. Turning she replaced it over him as he shifted slightly, adjusting for comfort in his sleep as she removed herself from the equation.

She wished she could have put the night before in a bottle somehow. She wished she could save all those happy feelings for another day.

Standing there, she watched him sleep. It was her way of stalling. Maybe he'd wake up and stop her. Last night, she'd allowed herself to dream. Between drink and just enjoying his company, she imagined a time when she'd stay in this city and at his side. And at the time, the dream had felt like a wonderful reality. There was no question of whether or not they'd stay together, or where that future would go.

Now the dream had to end.

She ducked under the bunk to get dressed in the basics. She didn't bother with gloves, or her weapons. Soon she had her boots back on, her comm. unit in her hand. She was debating on bringing it with her as she went to see Onin. Did she want to stay in contact? Keeping it with her felt like begging for someone to tell her no.

She tossed the device onto the floor, shaking her head and rubbing her eyes.

_It's time to go._ She insisted to herself.

Still she stared at his sleeping form. He'd wake up alone; she'd already be gone. He'd try to find her, but she would demand that Onin not allow him to follow. He'd curse himself for not waking up sooner, not being able to stop her.

He'd be hurt and angry.

Just like her.

She ducked her head down to sit on the edge of the bunk, brushing her hand over his brow and pushing back loose strands of hair. After a moment's deliberation, she bent further to kiss his forehead.

"Forgive me..." She muttered, holding back the need to cry once more.

With that she stood up, turning and walking to the stairs. After a moment's hesitation she took the steps, one by one, feeling as if she were pushing through physical blockades to do so. She just had to keep moving. If she stopped she'd turn back and dive-bomb him on the bed to hang on and never let go.

She just had to get out onto the street. Past the door. She'd be out and gone.

The door opened as she made the top of the stairs, forcing her to pause. She put her hand on the wall, resisting the dead-bolted need to turn back. Her stomach was sick, her heart beating against her ribs and making her pulse pound in her ears.

The door opened, and she stared at the open portal. The sun was shining, near-noon outside and the sounds of the city coming in. She could hear hammers and other equipment vital to repairing the homes in the slums that had been damaged in the attack. She would walk through those people, a known face of a hero that had helped in saving their city. What would she do if they stopped her?

_I won't let them. Get a zoomer and go right over the top, stop for no one. _

But she still stood in the door, nails trying to dig into the stone.

_Move._ She told herself.

_Move._ A stern order.

_JUST FUCKING MOVE._

Finally, her boot crossed the threshold. Then the other. She stepped out onto the street, remembering Jak's serene and sleeping face.

The door ground closed behind her, and she began to walk for the first zoomer she saw.

Down in the underground, Jak was laid out on the bunk. Silent, still.

As the door thudded shut, his eyes opened.

* * *

"I will ask again, are you sure you want to do this?"

Loor had made Onin's tent in the Bazaar without incident. She was surprised that the woman was fully functional after all the alcohol she'd consumed the night before. Still, she seemed no worse for wear and ready to go. It was Pecker who asked, as he had twice already, if Loor was really sure this is what she wanted to do, not translating for his master this time. The first time, Onin had asked, and then turned herself to the task of preparing what was, in essence, a small rift.

The second time was when the girl began to get antsy, since it was taking a long time for the crone to gather the energy necessary. Loor watched as various colors of eco were channeled along the woman's fingers, which danced into various symbols, changing the quality of the colors that played along her palms. She found that some of the jars arranged around the woman were containers for the colors that she needed, red, green, blue, and yellow all ready and at her beck and call.

This third time, Loor had seen snatches of white arising out of the blend of colors. It perked her curiosity and gave her a reason not to answer the moncaw. "What's she doing?"

"Getting ready to send you as far back as is necessary." Pecker said, noting the progress of the work the woman was doing. "She will try and send you back to your body before you came here. The effects of the eco you've been tainted with are undeniable, and you will grow back into the form you have currently, but it will allow you to evade the event that brought you to Haven."

"What...?" The girl shook her head. "So we're re-writing the past?"

"What's been written cannot be re-written." Pecker blew a raspberry, his feathers fluffing. "Your part in our history is permanent, always in a loop. But Onin will return you to your time so you may twin in the same way the Samoses have. Even if you avoid coming here, you are still here. Consult your memories to set things straight; the path you have taken is the only one that exists."

Loor had to blink a few times. "Whoa, so I'll be here, but will I also be twinned back there, hiding out till my original version takes off with Fury? That still leaves me with a huge mess to clean up-"

Pecker squawked in annoyance. _"Stupid! _I will feather you upside the head! Onin is not powerful enough to do that, but your current persona can be pushed back into your old body. The eco taint will go with you, as will your memories. You twin in the previous reality where you originally came here!"

"Sounds like quantum mechanics..." She whined, the idea of multiple realities and outcomes mixing together to make a single history. Still, she trusted Onin and Pecker.

Though she was kinda hoping she could re-write the past so that what had happened never did. It would make everything so much easier if she could just destroy the VC-M1 and, with it, all of her memories of Haven and the basis of Lyra's existence.

"You cannot escape what has happened." Pecker said as if he were reading her mind. "If that is what you thought would happen, I will disturb Onin before she finishes."

"No!" The girl snapped. "I need to go back, stop talking like I have a choice!"

As she yelled, she saw Onin twitch slightly. For a moment the many colors of light faltered, and she feared she had disturbed the crone. Still, like weaving an invisible blanket, her fingers sped to clean up the loose ends, the strength returning and continuing properly. Pecker then fluttered back to sit in Onin's head basket.

As he fled the area where Loor was standing, the light stretched out. It was cool, wrapping up her limbs and bodily picking her up off of the floor. She hadn't expected it to take so suddenly, yelping in protest as she tried to think of anything she might've forgotten.

She felt like she'd done something wrong. Tension.

The world protested her departure.

In a flash, she was gone.

The tent seemed somewhat dim after such a bright gathering of eco channeled into a rift. Pecker had to blink a few times to drive away the after-image. As he did, he saw that his owner was once again speaking with her hands. Blinking was like hearing a person stutter; he missed half of the movements.

"Again, please." He asked, watching carefully this time.

He wasn't happy with the translation.

"_WHAT?_ Then why in Mar's name did you let her go?"

Again her fingers spoke for her, the movement of her hands oddly calm.

"Oh..." The birdbrain sighed, a momentary panic put to rest as he looked up. The entrance to the tent _looked _empty, but the sun threw a shadow against the side that let pecker know that his lady was correct. "Come in!"

There was a moment of hesitation... before Jak stepped into the tent, looking somewhat shocked. He wasn't expected the transfer to happen so quickly either. That and the fact that he'd just been called in when he had been planning to charge in and demand to be sent after her. This day was hardly going according to plan.

"Your girlfriend is crazy!" Pecker snapped before Onin could begin signing. "Destroying precursor technology for her own survival, does she know what that could _do_ to this time?"

"What are you talking about? You just told her that this time can't be re-written."

"_People_ cannot be re-written, as to why they twin so easily!" Pecker snapped. "Things, however, can effect otherwise."

Onin finally managed to get a hand in edgewise. Pecker sighed, calming down and translating.

"Onin says that she felt a pull against the girl's leaving this time. Her return, at least in the way that she's been altered from her previous self, is not wanted."

Jak saw his chance, and pounced. "Send me after her. I'll convince her to come back."

"Obviously!" Pecker squawked again, growing more irritated by the second. "But sending you shall take more time."

"Why?"

"She had a body waiting to receive her." Pecker pointed out. "It made the transition easier. You, however, do not." Pecker paused, looking down as Onin chose to speak again. "Onin says that usually it would be nearly impossible for her without proper equipment, but with the help of the green sage, she may be able to manage it."

"Samos?" Jak nodded, thinking about it. "Right. I'll go get him. You get the rest of this ready."

"Jak!" Pecker called, stalling him. "If you go after her, and cannot convince her to come back... you will have to stop her some other way. The precursors put many devices in the past to ensure our current future; for that to be lost..."

"She never actually wanted to leave." He returned with a smirk, half-way out to go find Samos. "Talking her into coming back should be beyond easy."

_**To be continued...**_

_"Fantasy is not a crime  
find your castle in the sky."_

* * *

**LEGAL INFO: I, Lauren Randall, do not own Jak and Daxter, Jak II, or any other trademarks. The quote at the end comes from the song 'Castle in the Sky', though I forget who it's by. Again, no copyright infringement is intended. There was oringally a poem I wrote that went there, but since re-writing I've realized I am a FAIL poet. **

**I, Lauren Randall, DO own the characters Loor/Lauren, Lyra, Ryan, Mikey, Morgan, Artimus, and Teek. Do not use without permission.**

**Fury/Chelsea, Alex, and Damian all belong to their respective creators and were used with permission. **

**The story 'Vacation or War' is my intellectual property. Please ask before using specific concepts such as the IV branch of the Dark Warrior Program unless you are NDI. I am not and will not attempt to sell this work for any sort of profit. Everything is for entertainment purposes. **


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